I’m thinking of software that was released as a “beta”, that was in a beta for years - mostly so that if consumers complained about it, the manufacturer could just say “it’s just a beta”.
The only example I can think of is Siri for the iPhone. From what I recall, it was included in iOS, was used by millions of people, but was technically a classified as a beta by Apple.
Are there other examples of popular software used by millions of people that is technically in beta? Thanks.
I would think the canonical modern example is Gmail. Introduced April 1, 2004, it didn’t leave beta until July 2009.
Back in the day, Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox had a pretty protracted beta cycle that had a rather large number of users. I recall switching myself around the time of Firebird 0.7, which would have been late 2003, and it already had a lot of momentum at that point (it had already taken a pretty big chunk of users from the Mozilla suite, later to be known as SeaMonkey). Firefox 1.0 wasn’t released until a year later, in November 2004.
Minecraft Pocket Edition is still in alpha.
Wasn’t HijackThis at version .99 forever, until TrendMicro bought it out?
This only kind of qualifies, but the program AnyDVD constantly has to be updated to keep up with new DVD releases. Therefore, once or twice a month they will have an official, “stable” version ending in a .0. The latest “stable” version is 7.2.3.0, released July 16. But in the next few days, to keep up with new DVD’s, they might have a 7.2.3.1 beta, then a few days later a 7.2.3.2 beta, etc. that’s not extensively tested but at least out there, and then eventually you’ll get a 7.2.4.0 that’s once again “stable”.
Google Maps is technically still in “Beta” or at least it says so when you first lauinch it on any smartphone.