The one thing people have been saying that I don't think is true: that Apple is using beta users as testers for iOS7 and the more users the merrier.
Let's look at this logically. There are 10s of thousands of people who have iOS 7 installed right now, possibly 100s of thousands. If every person using iOS 7 is sending bug reports to Apple, they would be absolutely swamped with crash reports that are most likely duplicates of each other. At this stage, the engineers are probably working full time on polishing the OS, and the best way they can do this is talking to the dedicated QA team that they have, who are experts at finding bugs. I know that Donna is suspicious of the abilities of the dev team, but there's just no way Apple would hire anyone but the best for the QA team to squash bugs, and they are much better than a deluge of crash reports from random users.
So to all the people who are worried that Apple are using them as free beta testers: don't worry, Apple most likely aren't using your reports. The main reason betas are released to developers are to ensure that apps are ready to go day one for iOS7, and not so much free beta testing.
PS: The reason that Apple doesn't require a registered UDID to install the beta is because people were making a profit off selling dev slots. iOS5 definitely required people to register before they can install, but don't take Apple removing the requirement as a sign that they are encouraging users to install.
I'm not 'suspicious' of any dev team. The purpose of rolling out the beta to them is not for testing the OS. It's so they can update existing apps and take advantage of any new aspects of the OS. It's not the job of any third-party developers to beta test Apple's OS.
I have no idea how much testing experience you have but I have a lot. From small in-house applications to a couple of web apps that, quite frankly, have more users than Apple does. Formal test programs are developed based on use cases. But with an 'application', as complicated as an OS there are always things you miss. Always, always, always. Apple is not an exception to this.
The fact is that Apple most certainly could lock down the installs more if they wanted. But they don't try very hard. The upshot is that they have a small portion of their most tech savvy users trying out their software. And these folks will find things a formal test plan never will. Because a formal test plan simply cannot provide for the different variables that exist in day-to-day usage.
I do not understand the issue over this. Every one wins, Apple gets real-world beta testing by some of their best users, devs have access to the software with plenty of time to update their apps, and in the end the users get a better product in less time. This is not a new process. It happens at every roll-out.
Sure, it's obvious some users shouldn't be updating because they don't have the skills or knowledge, but then how do they learn? Each and every person who has any tech knowledge started somewhere.
I'll say it again, why let it bother you if you're a dev. If it does, do not 1) click on the thread, or 2) do not visit forums other than the official dev forum.
Oh, as a disclaimer, I have not updated to the beta and have no intention of doing so. I'm now retired and the only betas I'll test is if I get paid. and paid a lot.
