Very Computer

http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,17907,00.html

Note the following excerpts:

  ----------

The beta purchase program is only available to home users who
receive an email invitation from the company to order. The users
will not be asked to provide feedback, according to a FAQ page.

Microsoft chose people who posted in Usenet groups and who have
                ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
downloaded other Microsoft software, Holden said.

  ----------

I find the latter especially fascinating. Now there's a good way
to select quasi-beta testers...

Does this explain the presence of disruptive MS advocates in
non-MS os/sys groups?

Are they FUDing so they will be allowed to buy beta MS software?

--
________________________________________________________________________

They didn't say .advocacy groups.  There are a lot of comp.os.ms-windows
groups out there- pick the folks who both seem to know what they are doing
and who bang on software harder than Mom&Pop.

--

Director of Instructional Computing, USC Chemistry
"See, I told you they'd listen to Reason"- Fisheye, _Snow Crash_
If you think I speak for USC, see your doctor now.

: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,17907,00.html

: Note the following excerpts:

:   ----------

: The beta purchase program is only available to home users who
: receive an email invitation from the company to order. The users
: will not be asked to provide feedback, according to a FAQ page.

: Microsoft chose people who posted in Usenet groups and who have
:                 ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
: downloaded other Microsoft software, Holden said.

:   ----------

: I find the latter especially fascinating. Now there's a good way
: to select quasi-beta testers...

: Does this explain the presence of disruptive MS advocates in
: non-MS os/sys groups?

: Are they FUDing so they will be allowed to buy beta MS software?

Sure.  Just like Innovals idea of paying for the beta of their version 3
mailer.  Or Stardock's three such programs, namely, Object Desktop for OS/2,
Avarice, and Trials of Battle.

Or Opera's Project Magic.

Or how about J3's offer to pay what,  $15 bucks for the Smartsuite beta and
don't forget their offer to sell you fixpacks for money.

Or what about the Hobbes CDROM.

How are any of these different from what Microsoft is doing?  OS/2 has been
a hot bed for such programs for years.  Perhaps MS has finally decided to see
if they can find suckers like the ones in the OS/2 World.

David H. McCoy

:>: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,17907,00.html
:>
:>: Note the following excerpts:
:>
:>:   ----------
:>
:>: The beta purchase program is only available to home users who
:>: receive an email invitation from the company to order. The users
:>: will not be asked to provide feedback, according to a FAQ page.
:>
:>: Microsoft chose people who posted in Usenet groups and who have
:>:                 ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
:>: downloaded other Microsoft software, Holden said.
:>
:>:   ----------
:>
:>: I find the latter especially fascinating. Now there's a good way
:>: to select quasi-beta testers...
:>
:>: Does this explain the presence of disruptive MS advocates in
:>: non-MS os/sys groups?
:>
:>: Are they FUDing so they will be allowed to buy beta MS software?
:>
:>Sure.  Just like Innovals idea of paying for the beta of their version 3
:>mailer.  Or Stardock's three such programs, namely, Object Desktop for OS/2,
:>Avarice, and Trials of Battle.
:>
:>Or Opera's Project Magic.
:>
:>Or how about J3's offer to pay what,  $15 bucks for the Smartsuite beta and
:>don't forget their offer to sell you fixpacks for money.
:>
:>Or what about the Hobbes CDROM.
:>
:>
:>How are any of these different from what Microsoft is doing?  OS/2 has been
:>a hot bed for such programs for years.  Perhaps MS has finally decided to see
:>if they can find suckers like the ones in the OS/2 World.

The suckers perhaps are the people buying MS release software, which is
ususally of beta quality, for full price.

But seriously, I don't know the details of some of the beta programs above,
but I do know that when IBM did public beta tests, there was a choice of free
FTP distribution, or $15 "cost of
distribution" CD-ROM.

Microsoft is charging $30 and providing support. Plus, they don't want any
feedback from the "testers." Doesn't sound like a legitimate beta program to
me.

BTW, how is charging $30 for beta software at all comparable to Hobbes
charging $15 for their shareware/freeware/GPL CD-ROMS?

And I don't recall *anyone* ever doing an "invitation-only" beta program
based on posts to Usenet. Can you give an example?

--
________________________________________________________________________

On or about Thu, 08 Jan 98 12:05:04, in comp.sys.mac.advocacy "Brian

Nathan A. Hughes
MFA Candidate
The University Theatre KU
www.idir.net/~nhughes
Think Dual PII

This article was posted from <A HREF="http://www.slurp.net/">Slurp Net</A>.

Except for one thing - the _dual_ Pentium II.  I don't think
that Windows 98 is going to support that.  Perhaps Microsoft
is looking out for you, Nate.

---------------------------------------------
Tom Elam

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine,
it is stranger than we CAN imagine.

--
Regards,

Joe Ragosta
See the Complete Macintosh Advocacy Page
http://www.dol.net/~Ragosta/complmac.htm

--
Regards,

Joe Ragosta
See the Complete Macintosh Advocacy Page
http://www.dol.net/~Ragosta/complmac.htm

You left out my favorite part:

"Selling the beta can also be seen as a way to get Internet Explorer 4.0
into users' hands, an industry analyst pointed out."

Let's see: MSIE can be downloaded for free. Or, you can pay $5 to get it
on a CD with a bunch of extras. But according to this analyst, the best
way to get it out is to ask customers to pay $30 plus shipping for an OS
beta.

Further proof that it doesn't require an IQ above 10 to be an industry analyst.

--
Regards,

Joe Ragosta
See the Complete Macintosh Advocacy Page
http://www.dol.net/~Ragosta/complmac.htm

Hmm... Did I got it right? M$ is harvesting USENET... And promises
to send UBE... I.e. they decided to follow Spamford. Right?
MSN taking place of spambone - yeah, it's fascinating...
                                                Al

                                        John Nagle