The Embedded & Gadgets

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be available for download on February 29. Why isn’t it called a beta? Blame Google. And Apple. And Microsoft. Especially Microsoft.

On February 29, Microsoft will hold a special, invitation-only event in Barcelona. Presumably, at the same time they will flip a switch that gives the general public access to a major milestone in the Windows 8 development process.

In a bygone era, this version might have been labeled “beta.” Indeed, when Windows boss Steven Sinofsky laid out the Windows 8 roadmap last September, that’s the word he used for this milestone. But Microsoft has chosen instead to mark this release “Consumer Preview.”

They’re literally not making betas like they used to. Originally, beta was the phase of software development when a product was feature complete but needed more testing and tweaking to root out bugs. That was usually the stage at which some small subgroup of the developer’s customers got to try the product, usually for free.

A decade ago, Microsoft was liberal with its use of the beta mark. Windows XP, developed in 2000 and 2001, had a half-dozen pre-beta releases, two formal betas (with multiple interim builds), and two release candidates. These were distributed to a worldwide corps of enthusiasts and corporate partners. Features came and went through the long beta cycle, and the general picture was one of organized chaos.

For the Windows Vista development cycle in 2006, Microsoft really pitched its “beta experience” with the tagline, “The pleasure of testing,” accompanied by a picture of a crash-test dummy. Including the word “crash” doesn’t exactly send a comforting message for potential testers, does it?

Still, these pre-releases were generally open strictly to techies, with a clear warning attached: This stuff is unfinished. It might eat your data. You have been warned.

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