There is never any guarantee that software that is in Beta will be released. If product testing doesn't show the product will benefit the company, why should they continue putting resources into it? Should they throw a million dollars into developing an application that they will only lose money on, or maybe lay off a few hundred people to offset the costs, just so they can avoid mildly inconveniencing a few hundred people who were warned the projects could be discontinued?

As for Yahoo's policy of "if it works and users like it, discontinue it and replace it with buggy and less functional replacements that will make our customers leave in droves", well, that one even I can't explain.

__________________
The best way to learn anything, is to question everything.