from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
beta testing
beta version
<programming> Testing a pre-release (potentially unreliable)
version of a piece of software by making it available to
selected users. This term derives from early 1960s
terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at {IBM}
but later standard throughout the industry.
"{Alpha test}" was the unit, module, or component test phase;
"Beta Test" was initial system test. These themselves came
from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a
feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any
commitment to design and development. The B-test was a
demonstration that the engineering model functioned as
specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the
B-test performed on early samples of the production design.
An item "in beta test" is thus mostly working but still under
test. In the {Real World}, systems (hardware or software)
often go through two stages of release testing: Alpha
(in-house) and Beta (out-house?). Beta releases are generally
made available to a small number of lucky (or unlucky),
trusted customers.
(1996-11-05)