As a software engineer for almost 25 years, I firmly blame google for this.
No, honestly. They’re the ones who redefined “beta” in the public consciousness to mean “newest cool thing” when in reality (and this was well understood before that) it meant “feature-complete, but probably unstable; needs thorough testing prior to release.”
Beta is the “shakedown cruise” of software. You wouldn’t build the first of a newly designed class of ocean liner, and then pack it full of cruising tourists for its first trip out of dry dock. You take it out for a shakedown cruise first, without passengers (and before anyone says, “but some cruise ships do a shakedown with passengers for a discount!” Yes, that’s sometimes true… that would be the Public Beta in this analogy) to test the ship’s systems, seaworthiness, make sure the crew knows how to do their jobs, etc.