Perpetual beta

In the past, desktop applications had to shipped out by the company at high cost and bought by consumers in order to be installed on the computer and then used.

For a company to improve on their system, they had to gather feedback manually from customers and then ship out new versions and patches for customers to buy again and re-install.

This was a very costly and timely development process.

Web 2.0 applications can be upgraded and released to the public with little cost and quite often with out the users knowledge as they are not required to re-install or upgrade the web application.
This is referred to as perpetual beta, the idea is that by monitoring user interaction and gathering quick feedback, developers can quickly upgrade the systems features and release it to the public instantly. Users can be considered as co-developers as they everyday use is what helps to improve the system

One such web application is Facebook. facebook started as a small social network that has now grown to be the most used social network site in the world. By monitoring the users actions, facebook has constantly implemented new features to improve the users experience. These changes to the application are applied multiple times weekly or monthly without the users having to download any patches or new versions.

Another example of Perpetual Beta use is with Myspace. Myspace was overtaken quickly as the leading social network site by facebooks superior design. Facebook provided a much simpler way for users to interact with each other.

An example of Myspace upgrading its system to better help is users is the implementation of an online chat function that is very similar to that of facebooks, as well as a news feed showing the users friends activities.

These are examples of how myspace has changed its look to be similar to facebook.

Facebookchat

Myspace chat



FaceBook Newsfeed



and Myspace Newsfeeds


Possible issues that can arrise from constant software changes could be the negative feedback and dislike of new features. This occurs frequently when users don't welcome new changes to the web page.

Facebook will continue to grow as it provides an easy to use system that is constantly being improved to give the user a rich experience.