grep.ro

This is a rant.

Why does Google have an obsession with publishing beta applications, and keeping it beta for years? It looks to me like a cheap way of saying "look, we're not sure this software is good enough, use it at your own risk". Which just plain sucks, because their applications tend to be critical for people (gmail? google docs? people expect these to *work*, not fail silently and misteriously).

The reason I'm writing this rant is not just because lots of their apps are in beta. I'm worried about the consequences: people use the apps, get burned (yes, it happens, and not rarely), and then think "oh, it was in beta, I should have known better". That's bad, because the logo reads "Google", and they have an image to uphold. They are champions of openness and responsability on the web. Of course, they're "just a company", they don't have an obligation to do anything, but this doesn't mean that their failures do no damage. They are discrediting, to some extent, the idea of online applications (which are supposed to be "the future", right?) and, to a lesser extent, the idea of computers in general (because, to a non-geek, the computer ate their homework; doesn't matter what exactly failed). And it's not like they can't do better. They're Google, they have the cash, they have the manpower and talent to do things right. Or, at the very least, provide some better warning than just sticking "beta" in the logo.

This "beta" thing used to be a funny joke, but it's getting serious, people are losing their data because of it. Not good.