Entourage Beta

R

Richard Heend

I have read on macfixit.com that the MS MacBU is shipping CDs of the beta
version of the new Exchange-compatible Entourage X. Has anyone reading this
group seen this beta or heard of the beta-test program? Is the program still
accepting new testers?

Another thought: If it is just now in beta it seems somewhat unlikely it
will go golden and be released this summer, unless it becomes a public
downloadable beta like Apple's Safari.

Anyone have any insight?

-rich <[email protected]>
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

I have read on macfixit.com that the MS MacBU is shipping CDs of the beta
version of the new Exchange-compatible Entourage X. Has anyone reading this
group seen this beta or heard of the beta-test program? Is the program still
accepting new testers?
Click to expand...

MS MacBU does not solicit for beta-testers. They do it by invitation only.
Another thought: If it is just now in beta it seems somewhat unlikely it
will go golden and be released this summer, unless it becomes a public
downloadable beta like Apple's Safari.
Click to expand...

Why do you think that? Since they've already announced that this first
version of Exchange-compliant Entourage is to be a free update, perhaps they
plan to make it a downloadable update anyway rather start producing CDs. (I
don't know myself, it just seems reasonable.) If they say "summer" they mean
summer, although it could be quite late ...



--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP Entourage
Entourage FAQ Page: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Entourage you are using - 2001 or X.
It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise.
 
J

jerome

Berkowitz:
Why would you assume that when M$ says "summer" they really mean it, when
they have such a rep for pushing back their release dates? Wouldn't you
assume instead that they would generate at least 2 beta's or are we all
expecting it to be similar to the incomplete work they have released and
have had to patch so quickly in the past?
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

Krehbiel,

it sounds as if you don't expect it to amount to much, anyway. So just wait
and see, and use it only if you hear good reports. There was so much clamour
last year to declare a release date for the Palm conduit, that they did do
prematurely, with results as you describe. So this year they kept it vague
on purpose - "summer" sounds reasonably flexible. Everyone should stop
nagging. It will be released when it's ready. They're working on it.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP Entourage

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Entourage you are using - 2001 or X.
It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise.
 
M

Mike

Paul Berkowitz said:
MS MacBU does not solicit for beta-testers. They do it by invitation only.
Click to expand...

So how does the MBU decide who to invite? Is there any way to give
the MBU info about my environment, test experience, etc., so I could
be invited in the future?
 
A

Alex Yu

Me here too. I already asked about this in Outlook 11 Beta forum, but no response yet.

Alex
 
W

William M. Smith

So how does the MBU decide who to invite? Is there any way to give
the MBU info about my environment, test experience, etc., so I could
be invited in the future?
Click to expand...

I can't say that what I'm telling you is exactly what happens, but I'd bet
this does account for a good part of the beta program.

Organizations have clout; especially larger businesses. They can contact
Microsoft to become Microsoft business partners because they have a higher
number of installed Microsoft products (hundreds to thousands of Windows
desktop installations, Office installations, Windows server installations,
etc.)

As business partners, they get some perks such as the opportunity to
participate in beta programs. (This is a big benefit to Microsoft because
they have a larger testing base to use and less relations to maintain.)
Their Microsoft representative can keep them informed of what's about to
come up.

If you work for an orgnaization, research what your company can do to
partner with Microsoft. Who knows? Maybe your company already has partnered
and you can just jump on their coattails.

Hope this helps! bill
 
B

Barry Wainwright

I'm not saying you're wrong, but all the large companies I have had dealing
with wouldn't touch a beta programme with a ten foot barge pole. They want
productivity and stability. Their IT is organised by a dedicated department
who don't want the sort of hassle that goes along with beta testing.

I couldn't say what sort of control or feedback regime that MS uses for it's
beta testing, but I suspect that the problems of controlling beta releases
within a corporation would be too difficult for MS to manage - there's just
too many places for the secrets to leak.

I would not be surprised to find that the beta testers are solicited first
from within their employee pool (where they can most easily control access
to confidential information), secondly from a dedicated team of testers,
either in MS's employ or otherwise (their 'user group/focus team' or
whatever terminology they use). Finally, I would expect to see a handful of
acknowledged experts or specialists be involved, maybe those who have a
particular language set up etc.

I have no idea how an individual could get on to these lists, but I doubt it
would be easy, since MS necessarily need to be quite cautions and
circumspect about who they allow to access their pre-release products.
Perhaps there are several layers of access, with new recruits being
restricted to 'almost released' products, and longer serving, proven
reliable testers being allowed access to earlier betas or alpha releases.

It's all speculation - MS don't publish what they do and anyone on one of
these programmes would not be allowed to say what happens because they would
certainly be under an NDA.

--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see http://mvp.support.microsoft.com for details)
Seen the Entourage FAQ pages? - Check them out:
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>
 
H

Hunter Donald \(MSFT\)

The beta is currently closed for the Exchange Update.


--
Hunter Donald
Microsoft Exchange Client Server Infrastructure / Mac Messaging Support

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