Technical Definitions: What is Alpha / Beta? Alpha / Beta Definition.

Free Definitions: Software: General

Alpha / Beta Definition

The terms alpha and beta refer to releases of software that are typically not ready for commercial use. Alpha refers to the very early release, which is typically very buggy and only released to few people internal to the organization. It is helpful, in development, to get feedback very quickly from the hacker community, or potential customers with the beta version. Releasing a beta version has become standard practice with the evolution of the internet as a mode of distribution for the software. It is a part of the development model for open source software.

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