There's a reason it's called BETA

[Krandor]

I don't know if you've been reading the forums or not but I see MANY threads on why does this app crash and "my iphone is really hot running iOS 5 what gives".


So to respond to your statement.. NO a lot of people don't know what a beta is....

I think some of that has some from the gaming industry with often includes "beta access" for pre-orders or those types of things and these betas are really just early looks at games and maybe some stress testing of servers (though when it is server stress testing you hear people cry bloody murder that they can't "test" the game because it is too laggy and ignoring the fact that the lag is probably giving developers very good server data).

iOS5 Beta is very different then the "Gears of War 3" beta that just ran on xbox live and many people don't know the difference.

I work in the IT field, I know what a Beta is, I know what I was getting and I know what to expect. I may mention things that are not working but will never complain about stuff that isn't working in a beta and would certainly never rate an app negative for lack of iOS5 compatability.. I mean the dev just got access to the beta themselves so how are they supposed to have it ready for iOS5 yet? I was doing something in facebook today and my phone rebooted... I will report it to Apple, but I am not going to go post a review on the facebook app page about the app being horrible and rebooting my phone. I have beta code running and that comes with the territory.

I like the suggestion that if you are not running a beta iOS or iTunes you cannot rate apps.

 

[yodaxl7]

Before giving a copy of the beta ios 5, you should tell consumers that apps may not work well. The end users then may pause and wait for a later beta. Developers should know better. You could say that: I am glad to help you, but your apps may not work well.

You may want the third beta or something. Me, I would rather wait for the public version.

 

[Aduntu]

If these actions don't bother Apple, then who are we to get upset over it.

My concern is limited to abusers of the arrangement that may eventually cause more restrictions to be placed on those of us who play by the rules. And maybe a little bit of it has to do with people pirating software and expecting everyone to openly accept it.

chances are those NDA could never be enforced and if Apple even tried to enforce them they would be thrown out of court and sure as heck would cost a lot more money than they could every hope to recover.

I highly doubt Apple creates legal documents that aren't legally binding. Doesn't sound like their style. Whether they ever decide to exercise that right, well that's another story.

 

[Geckotek]

The problem I have is this; betas are used to test the platform as well as the apps that run on the platform so that the bugs can be identified and resolved.

If someone comes on here reporting a bug, I hate it when everyone jumps down their throats saying "ITS A BETA! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT A BETA IS?!?"

Now if they are complaining, I call open season. Let 'em have it. But if someone is just simply reporting a bug, people shouldn't be jumping down their throats about it because the entire purpose behind releasing the beta is to identify and report these bugs.

 

[Fliesen]

The problem I have is this; betas are used to test the platform as well as the apps that run on the platform so that the bugs can be identified and resolved.

If someone comes on here reporting a bug, I hate it when everyone jumps down their throats saying "ITS A BETA! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT A BETA IS?!?"

Now if they are complaining, I call open season. Let 'em have it. But if someone is just simply reporting a bug, people shouldn't be jumping down their throats about it because the entire purpose behind releasing the beta is to identify and report these bugs.

reporting bugs is fine, pretty awesome actually, there's a thread here dedicated to reporting bugs.

downrating appstore apps because they crash under iOS 5 is downright lame

 

[Geckotek]

downrating appstore apps because they crash under iOS 5 is downright lame

Agreed 100%

 

[VSMacOne]

What is this "problem" you speak of? Who is being harmed or inconvenienced? If the complaint's bother you, don't read them. Don't let it get to you.

Do I even bother feeding the troll? I think i'll pass this morning

I agree complaining about bugs, or things running slow or battery draining in Beta is not valuable. IT IS A BETA. That means a lot of things are not optimizing yet and often times you have a lot of extra services turned on for debugging that will not be turned on in the final release.

Now complaining about features or poor UI in some areas yes I find that acceptable as it is feature locked. Apple is not going to change the UI or add any new features. But bugs come on it is a BETA. Beta software has bugs.

I have to disagree with you... I don't think iOS5 as we see it right now is set in stone. Since there are almost 3 months before public release and since it will most likely be accompanied by iPhone5, I think we're going to see plenty of changes from now til launch. I would expect to see more widgets (doesn't make sense to only have 2), systemwide voice recognition, new ringtones and maybe even NFC.

 

[whtrbt7]

This is only the first beta release so everything is really on the unfinished side. I really have my fingers crossed for Nuance integration into the OS as well as some other functional enhancements to the OS. I think Notification center may change a good bit as well from the looks of it. Does anyone think they'll peel back WiFi Sync? I just don't see it as a core technology that's needed now. I do however think Airdrop would be useful since a 3rd party app for WiFi file sharing is still a little on the lame side.

 

[ulbador]

Agreed 100%

+1... My most popular app went from 30-40 sales a day to 2 TOTAL in the last 4 or 5 days because of a dozen or so "Whine whine, this app crashes on iOS 5" reviews.

Now, I spent all last night getting a fix programmed and and submitted, and the turnaround time for app approval seems to be longer than normal.

 

[VSMacOne]

This is only the first beta release so everything is really on the unfinished side. I really have my fingers crossed for Nuance integration into the OS as well as some other functional enhancements to the OS. I think Notification center may change a good bit as well from the looks of it. Does anyone think they'll peel back WiFi Sync? I just don't see it as a core technology that's needed now. I do however think Airdrop would be useful since a 3rd party app for WiFi file sharing is still a little on the lame side.

I think they should keep WiFi sync for those who won't sign up for iCloud. It would be nice to still have the ability to sync wirelessly, if only to your computer.

+1... My most popular app went from 30-40 sales a day to 2 TOTAL in the last 4 or 5 days because of a dozen or so "Whine whine, this app crashes on iOS 5" reviews.

Now, I spent all last night getting a fix programmed and and submitted, and the turnaround time for app approval seems to be longer than normal.

THIS is the problem I was referring to in the original post! An increase in uneducated iOS beta users is causing unnecessary issues for developers. There shouldn't be this problem.

 

[BlindMellon]

+1... My most popular app went from 30-40 sales a day to 2 TOTAL in the last 4 or 5 days because of a dozen or so "Whine whine, this app crashes on iOS 5" reviews.

I tell ya, kids shouldnt be allowed access to their mothers credit card. To down rate an app because of an unfinished beta....

 

[wordoflife]

No one is denying that it is a beta. W

We are just giving our opinions on daily usage and how for some of us, it wasn't worth it. What's the problem with that?

 

[VSMacOne]

No one is denying that it is a beta. W

We are just giving our opinions on daily usage and how for some of us, it wasn't worth it. What's the problem with that?

That's not the point of the beta. It's not for daily usage. This leads to the previously mentioned problem of users downgrading apps in the App Store because they don't work right with iOS5.

 

[richxps]

FYI - Bugs should be reported to Apple via the developer portal. Reporting bugs is sort of useless, they need to be reported to Apple.

Or if your buying a spot from a true Dev. than report it to him or her so they can submit it the proper way.

Thanks

 

[heisenberg123]

No one is denying that it is a beta. W

We are just giving our opinions on daily usage and how for some of us, it wasn't worth it. What's the problem with that?

its not for daily usuage thats why the release date is 3 MONTHS away

 

[wordoflife]

That's not the point of the beta. It's not for daily usage. This leads to the previously mentioned problem of users downgrading apps in the App Store because they don't work right with iOS5.

its not for daily usuage thats why the release date is 3 MONTHS away

I never said it was designed for daily usage; much less a stable release for the public. Though to test a beta is to use it, hence daily usage.

We are still allowed to give out opinions nonetheless.

 

[radiogoober]

I never said it was designed for daily usage; much less a stable release for the public. Though to test a beta is to use it, hence daily usage.

We are still allowed to give out opinions nonetheless.

I love how when people are trying to back-peddle they always try to use a semicolon. Invariably they always screw up doing that too.

(And ironically my post is full of grammatical errors.)

 

[Geckotek]

FYI - Bugs should be reported to Apple via the developer portal. Reporting bugs is sort of useless, they need to be reported to Apple.

Or if your buying a spot from a true Dev. than report it to him or her so they can submit it the proper way.

Thanks

Agreed, but nothing is wrong with coming on here to discuss it and see if others are experiencing the same bug. But the discussion is useless if someone doesn't follow up by reporting this to the developer portal.

However, I emphasize the word discuss. Keep in mind it's not acceptable to complain.

All that considered, I'm not a Dev and therefore I do not upgrade until Apple offers it to the public. If the beta was open to the public I'd probably try it.

 

[vincenz]

That's not the point of the beta. It's not for daily usage.

Devs are using it daily.

 

[VSMacOne]

Agreed, but nothing is wrong with coming on here to discuss it and see if others are experiencing the same bug. But the discussion is useless if someone doesn't follow up by reporting this to the developer portal.

However, I emphasize the word discuss. Keep in mind it's not acceptable to complain.

All that considered, I'm not a Dev and therefore I do not upgrade until Apple offers it to the public. If the beta was open to the public I'd probably try it.

Totally agree with you! Unfortunately, most posts turn into COMPLAINING because of misinformation and lack of knowledge. As I'm typing this I realize that most of these websites that sell the dev activations for $5-10 don't really tell their customer what to expect out of the beta, thus leading to many people expecting a perfectly smooth and working OS, which we all know is not the case with most betas.

 

[VSMacOne]

Devs are using it daily.

Yeah they use it daily as their TEST device. Most places I have read, very few devs purposefully use a BETA OS on their main phone. The idea of the beta is to test their apps and test different areas of focus that Apple identifies with each beta release.
I'm not saying that people don't use it daily.. I actually do, but only because iOS5 if so much more stable than other betas.

 

[wordoflife]

I love how when people are trying to back-peddle they always try to use a semicolon. Invariably they always screw up doing that too.

(And ironically my post is full of grammatical errors.)

Umm, what?

Were you ever taught how to use a semicolon? It's used to connect two sentences together that have a similar or relating idea.
I'm not even sure why you would bother pointing that out considering A) it doesn't matter and B) you know your post is grammatically incorrect too.
Wow.

Actually, I'm not going to argue with you about this. Go figure it out yourself.

 

[Krandor]

This is only the first beta release so everything is really on the unfinished side. I really have my fingers crossed for Nuance integration into the OS as well as some other functional enhancements to the OS. I think Notification center may change a good bit as well from the looks of it. Does anyone think they'll peel back WiFi Sync? I just don't see it as a core technology that's needed now. I do however think Airdrop would be useful since a 3rd party app for WiFi file sharing is still a little on the lame side.

I diagree. WiFi sync is needed. As was mentioned in the Keynote we are beyond the point where I should have to plug my phone into my computer to get new music.... and before you say move it to the cloud.. I have a 4 TB NAS with audio and video files.. moving all that to the cloud is not practical.

With the whole "cutting the cord" theme of the keynote, I don't see any way they can peel back WiFi Sync and I would be upset if they do.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Pretty funny to see all the threads with people surprised that they're running into issues or small bugs in beta software. Theres a reason that Apple doesn't recommend you use it on your daily use iPhone yet people still don't listen to any warnings and expect everything to work perfectly in pre-release software.

 

[LapsangSouchong]

Pretty funny to see all the threads with people surprised that they're running into issues or small bugs in beta software. Theres a reason that Apple doesn't recommend you use it on your daily use iPhone yet people still don't listen to any warnings and expect everything to work perfectly in pre-release software. [url=http://smiliesftw.com/x/bowrofl.gif]Image[/URL]

Bumping this thread with a +1. Folks: It's a BETA. If you're not a dev, and don't get that, then maybe you should wait for the official release.