Our column is pretty far already! The last three parts covered all kinds of things associated with beta testing and beta testers. In case you missed something, here are links to the last issues:
The Art of beta testing-On testers
The Art of beta testing-Completely outsourcing tests is dangerous
The Art of beta testing-Random testing is useless-structured testing rules
Now, we shall shift focus to the developer side-and cover stuff that happens right in your IDE. Confused? Just read on…
Release an unprotected beta and loose cash
Many developers tend to see beta testers as ‘employees’ rather than as random voluntary users-what they essentially are. Thus, the testers are given access to versions that are compiled with debugger support-or even worse-without time and use restrictions.
These ‘internal builds’ can be incredibly dangerous! Beta versions usually work reasonably well-and can sometimes even be used in production environments. Social engineering usually is successful-trust is one of the major ruses used. A beta tester beams the beta to two friends, each of them beams it over again,… . Eventually, the file gets to a web freak who puts it online-and we all know the rest of the story just too well!
The counter measure is simple here. Don’t ever release a beta version that doesnt either expire hiddenly or is seriously locked down. It may be a bit of extra work-but trust me, not having your program cracked is worth it!
Any experiences?
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