what does it mean?? beta or patch?

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danselstudios
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what does it mean?? beta or patch?

Post by danselstudios »

hey guys, i'm confused everything i'm gonna download software.

i just finished downloading phpdev.

i noticed there was a patch version, phpdev version, and a phpdev beta version.

what is the difference between beta and regular download????
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

A beta is an early, often not so stable, developer and early adopter release of a software. Patch versions are often just the altered files or diffs needed to update from the previous development release. Standard versions are for consumers. They are considered stable.
danselstudios
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Location: Corona, CA

Post by danselstudios »

thanks man that makes a lot of sense.

i would assume beta versions are still just for testing purposes and stable versions are for live production.

thanks i really appreciate the quick response.
Roja
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Re: what does it mean?? beta or patch?

Post by Roja »

danselstudios wrote:what is the difference between beta and regular download????
Different people use the phrase in various ways. Wikipedia has a solid description of the usual meaning of beta software.

My rule of thumb is that with alpha software, the developer doesn't even know what to expect the code to do. Beta software you know what it should do, but its highly likely it won't. Then it gets into preview releases, where its doing what you expect, and shouldnt do anything wrong (but you want to know if it does!), and finally to full release.

But as I said, everyone seems to use the term a little loosely. Google has a number of features that I would actually describe as preview releases, while they call them beta. Google news was in "beta" for over a year.
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