Author: pavel
Date: 08:07:09 09/07/00
Go up one level in this thread
On September 07, 2000 at 10:43:16, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On September 06, 2000 at 18:50:05, Uri Blass wrote: > >>On September 06, 2000 at 18:32:35, Uri Blass wrote: >> >>>On September 06, 2000 at 17:29:41, Steven Schwartz wrote: >>> >>>>Thanks to José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba we have a new >>>>poll question. It appears to be a hot topic here now. >>>> >>>>You are invited to vote at the CCC polling site: >>>>http://www.icdchess.com/ccc/poll/index.shtml >>> >>> >>>I voted for paying more for the beta testers but I think that it is dependent in >>>the job that they do. >>> >>>If the testers do the job that I read that the chessmaster8000 beta testers >>>did(only playing 30 games against different personalities at fast time control) >>>then I think that getting the new version is enough(I think that in this case >>>they also get the real new version) >>> >>>If the testers help the programmers by giving ideas and not only play some hours >>>against the program then it is not enough. >>> >>>I could abstain but I felt that I had to vote for the beta testers after I read >>>the idea that the programmers do the beta testers a favour. >>> >>>The beta testers can test the commercial programs and I do not see the big >>>advantage of getting it some monthes before the release of a new version when >>>beta testers do not get even it because they get only the beta version that they >>>test that is usually slightly weaker. >>> >>>In my case the fact that I was a beta tester of Junior4.x did not save me from >>>buying Junior5 in order to test later Junior5.x >>> >>>Uri >> >>I can add that I do not blame other people for this fact and it is my fault that >>I tried to give ideas when I was not asked for it but I understand that other >>people see the job of the beta tester as giving more than games so I had to vote >>for the beta testers. >> >>If there was a clear definition of the beta tester as someone that has a job to >>work not more than 10-15 hours and give only games then I could vote in a >>different way. >> >>Uri > > >I personally believe that there is great misconception in the term "beta >testing". The correct details of what is to be done is normally that you >receive the beta version, and you use it as though it were a production >version, but with specific error-reporting requirements. That is how most >beta testing is done. In rarer cases, beta testing is used to look for more >specific things. IE "will this program install on many different configurations >of hardware and operating system versions?" which might be hard to answer in a >lab setting. > >"playing a few games at short time controls" is _not_ "beta testing". Unless >someone has coined a new beta testing description that is different from the >SE books I use. > >With what I have read here so far, _most_ are not doing beta testing, and >getting a free copy of a program is probably quite fair. Some (Uri for >example) go much deeper into things looking for obvious (or not-so-obvious) >flaws that need attention. Spending that much time is definitely worth paying >for. > >It would seem that the current beta testing approach isn't working very well, >based on the later bugs and bugfix versions released. The testers aren't >getting much for their efforts. The programmers aren't getting a lot of effort >from the testers. Seems 'equitable' in a way. :) I agree fully with this, beta-testing is not about playing a bunch of games between computer programs. If that so then the guys from the chessbase and rebel can do it themselves. there can be another reason for beta-testers (IMO)-----> for example Christian Koch is a beta-tester for "Gandalf" so he is playing a lot of games with gandalf against other strong chess playing programs. and then posting them in public forums, as a result "promoting" the "gandalf" engine in a way to public. This has nothing to do with finding bugs for the programmer. Pavel
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