Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. Each major version of a product usually goes through a stage when new features are added (alpha stage), then a stage when it is actively debugged (beta stage), and finally a stage when all important bugs have been removed (stable stage). Intermediate stages may also be recognized. The stages may be formally announced and regulated by the project's developers, but sometimes the terms are used informally to describe the state of a product. Conventionally, code names are often used by many companies for versions prior to the release of the product, though the actual product and features are rarely secret.

Pre-alpha

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Sometimes a build known as pre-alpha is issued, before the release of an alpha or beta. In contrast to alpha and beta versions, the pre-alpha is usually not "feature complete". At this stage designers are still determining exactly what functionalities the product should have. Such builds can also be called development releases or nightly builds.

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Microsoft to ratchet IE8 security another notch in Beta 2
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:05:00 -0700
Sometime in August, Microsoft plans to release Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 8. Yesterday, I spoke with Austin Wilson, Director of Windows Client Product Management at Microsoft, about some of the security-related changes due in this milestone, and got a preview of the changes announced today. Here are some details...
Sony PlayStation's site SQL injected, redirecting to rogue security software
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:10:06 -0700
The latest high trafficked web site to fall victim into the continuing waves of massive SQL injection attacks courtesy of copycats and the ASProx botnet, is Sony's PlayStation U.S site according to a recent post at SophosLabs's blog : "Researchers at IT security firm Sophos have warned lovers of...
Stop the madness: 10 steps to kill failures
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:30:30 -0700
Are you too pussy-footed to pull the plug on projects that will inevitably fail? If so, you're not alone. Whether through fear, denial, or ignorance, many organizations don't kill their doomed projects fast enough. It's a darn shame because these lousy things can drive everyone crazy while burning scarce resources....
SlideShare: user communication failure
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:20:27 -0700
While Enterprise 2.0 applications can be useful, hassles sometimes abound. In this case, I innocently tried to upload a simple file to SlideShare, only to learn things aren't always straightforward.After attempting to upload the file, I received an error message stating in part: There's a big chance this is...
What programming language should we teach?
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:21:54 -0700
I had a discussion shortly before the end of the year with one of our exchange students regarding a programming class I wanted to teach. My goal was simply to introduce programming concepts and algorithmic thinking. Heck, I'd be happy if the kids could walk out of the...
Eclipse Foundation delivers Ganymede train with 23 cars, but where are the cloud on-ramps?
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:28:47 -0700
Now that the Eclipse Foundation has proven it mettle with delivery of consistent and complete packages of downloads -- now's the time to take this puppy to the cloud. I'd like to see more integration between Eclipse products and cloud-based development, integration and deployment services. And I'm not alone on...

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