Beta Testing

All the applications and products are tested thoroughly before releasing it to the customer so that the developers can  verify whether a computer program/application/product:

• Meets the requirements that guided its design and development,

• Works as expected,

• Can be implemented with the same characteristics,

• And satisfies the needs of stakeholders.

 There are different types of testing :

• Installation testing

• Compatibility testing

• Smoke and sanity testing

•  Regression testing

• Acceptance testing

• Alpha testing

• Beta testing

• Functional vs non-functional testing

• Destructive testing

• Software performance testing

• Usability testing

• Accessibility testing and many more

Beta testing comes after the alpha testing and is used to test the product before releasing it commercially.It can be considered as a form of external user acceptance testing.

Beta versions, which are the versions of software are released only to a limited audience so that further testing will apprise the developers with existing bugs or new faults so that he can take corrective actions.This will ensure that the final product released will be bug free.Beta versions are sometimes made available to the open public to increase the feedback field to a maximum number of future users.There are few online websites which offers us a chance to participate in Beta Tests of unreleased products. 

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#Beta_testing
• http://www.opineinfosolutions.com/beta_testing.php