Has Google Redefined Beta?

netbuzz writes "Someone finally took the time to do a count of all the Google apps marked 'beta.' And with fully 45% of its products carrying that familiar tag — including 4-year-old Gmail — Google says there's an explanation: Beta doesn't mean to them what it has long meant to the rest of the tech community. 'We believe beta has a different meaning when applied to applications on the Web,' says a company spokesman."

I prefer the old definitions:

[Chemisor]

Alpha: it doesn't work.
Beta: it still doesn't work.

Perhaps they should be more wary....

[mblase]

I seem to recall that Stavro Muller intentionally added the Beta label to one of his own restaurants, with catastrophic results.

Re:Perhaps they should be more wary....

[somersault]

Mr T says: I ain't eatin no beta-carotene, sucka!

Re:I prefer the old definitions:

[Daimanta]

And to continue on that

Release Candidate: It might work, but it probably won't
Gold: It still doesn't work, but users are great bugtester
SP1: Still not done, has some bugs left and misses some funtionality
SP2: This one might actually be done, try at your own risk though

Re:I prefer the old definitions:

[Smivs]

Re Gmail being beta, does this mean when it's 'finished' it will be Alpha mail?

Re:I prefer the old definitions:

[idlehanz]

And one more SP3: The last release you'll see for this product because getting revenue from a new product is cheaper than fixing any more bugs.

Re:"Has Google Redefined Beta?"

[Phylarr]

I would, but the tags are still in Beta.

Still in Beta?!?

[r33per]

All I can say is that we're out of beta: we're releasing on time.

Re:I prefer the old definitions:

[clickety6]

Software Development Lifecycle

Alpha- short for "It's alpha-lly crap"

Beta - short for "It's still alpha-ally crap, but it's beta than it was"

Release - short for "it still release-tinks, but we've gotta publish"

Gold - Short for "it's gold-arn awful, but at least it's out the door"

Google is Following in Humpty Dumpty's Footsteps

[SwashbucklingCowboy]

When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.

--- Humpty Dumpty

as if anyone is in a position to argue?

[circletimessquare]

google could redefine a cucumber as a small nocturnal mammal, and the whole world would fall in line. google search is all of our collective recall. it's the 800 pound gorilla of the web. it can make any word mean anything they want it to

call it a "google mind trick"

World: Let us see Gmail move out of beta.
Google: [with a small tweak of the spider] You don't need to see Gmail move out of beta.
World: We don't need to Gmail move out of beta.
Google: Beta does not have the meaning you think it has.
World: Beta does not have the meaning I think it has.
Google: You believe beta has a different meaning when applied to applications on the Web.
World: I believe beta has a different meaning when applied to applications on the Web.
Gmail: Move along.
World: Move along... move along.

Yes...

[stoofa]

And they have redefined 'no evil' too.

Re:That's just plain stupid

[Jonah Hex]

Well for a company that can't spell Googol [wikipedia.org] correctly, I'm not surprised they would not be using the word Beta correctly. We're just lucky they haven't started spelling it Baitah, Beata, or Bayta.
 
Jonah HEX

Obligatory

[ChefInnocent]

Then perhaps, someone should tell them, "I do not think that word means what you think it does."

Re:That's just plain stupid

[ZwJGR]

On the contrary, the birth date you supplied quite definitively indicates that Google is a young company.
It's only been around for 3 weeks after all... ;)

Problem solved!

[DanOrc451]

Google should just use the tried-and-true "Under Construction" animated gif instead. Blinking text is a plus.

Re:That's just plain stupid

[darth dickinson]

Ask your wife/girlfriend/SO if getting a BJ from someone else is considered sexual relations. Go ahead, we'll wait.

Re:Capitalism is dying

[Vectronic]

"Marxism has now confirmed: Capitalism is dying"

You woulda got modded funny if you left it at that...well, at least by me...

Re:That's just plain stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just how life works. If you're important enough you can do whatever you want.

There, fixed it for you.

See, you replaced a word, while google would've changed the definition :-)

They said it a few years back

[hamtronix]

They said it all in an April Fools joke a few years ago. The following is verbatim from http://www.google.com/googlegulp/faq.html [google.com] Man, if you pressure us, you just drive us away. We'll commit when we're ready, okay? Besides, what's so great about taking things out of beta? It ruins all the romance, the challenge, the possibilities, the right to explore. Carpe diem, ya know? Maybe we're jaded, but we've seen all these other companies leap headlong into 1.0, thinking their product is exactly what they've been dreaming of all their lives, that everything is perfect and hunky-dory â" and the next thing you know some vanilla copycat release from Redmond is kicking their butt, the Board is holding emergency meetings and the CEO is on CNBC blathering sweatily about "a new direction" and "getting back to basics." No thanks, man. We like our freedom.

Re:That's just plain stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

A rose named "anal discharge" would not be so appealling. A child named "Vagina Slime" would not be so nice.

Re:That's just plain stupid

[Van Cutter Romney]

Maybe they're just too lazy to change the logo?

Re:That's just plain stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait for what? The acquisition of wife/girlfriend/SO or of the BJ?

Re:That's just plain stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just how life works. If you're important enough you can do whatever you want.

You misunderstand the parent.

You're simply not THAT important