Chris Crum, a writer for WebProNews had an interesting insight about GMail. It's going on its five year anniversary, and I never noticed that it's still in 'beta' form. Unless someone can show me otherwise, I think that's the longest I've ever seen something in beta phase. Does it even matter after all this time?

The article had me thinking about the term itself, beta. It's a cool word to say, and I might just keep typing it so I can sound it out in my head. Beta. Ok, promise I won't do that again.

The first time I remember running into anything in beta form was for video games. The beta phase process is generally used to work out bugs, and problems a game might have before releasing retail. So, is Google 'still' working out bugs for GMail?

You'd think that Google would have sorted all the problems out by now, or perhaps there's a different way to look at it. Maybe, Google has stayed so dedicated to improving GMail that they believe it still isn't ready to be considered a full product. But if they aren't selling Gmail, what does it matter if it's in beta or not?

This might be a crazy theory but I believe it deals with positive word association. I think Google, by keeping GMail in beta is letting people know they've only tapped into a small portion of the application. Subconciously, it keeps users excited about things to come. Maybe they're being too subconcious though, as I completely missed the fact they were in beta. Maybe write it out in larger letters next time.

Perhaps we can learn a lesson from Google in this regard. Releasing our sites, and ideas in beta form might spark good feelings from our users. Letting them know we're continuing to improve. Or if something goes wrong with the site, we can just let them know it's still in beta. Then, just leave the word up there. It might keep us motivated to improve as well. Vive! Le Beta Révolution.

| JohnnyV |