Blog for hpHosts, and whatever else I feel like writing about ....

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

MailWasher Pro needs Beta testers!

Go on, you know you want to!

Let’s face it, beta testing software is not very sexy, especially with the kinds of qualities that work well when dealing with software companies directly, providing them feedback and thoughts on aspects that can be improved.
  1. You are asked to install large Microsoft Frameworks which only run on XP, Vista and Windows 7.
  2. You are asked to join online forums to manage the feedback.
  3. You are asked to submit surveys, which means removing settings and options, adding them back in, setting up your software again and again.
  4. You are asked to document your processes, making little notes on small and otherwise insignificant things.
  5. You are expected to have a decent enough knowledge about computers and software to troubleshoot issues yourself, reliably reproduce bugs or errant behaviour.
  6. You need to be outspoken enough to voice your suggestions, and stick up for them when others disagree, but be able to take things well enough so that you do not get offended when others don’t share your views.
So if that wasn’t tough enough finding people with enough time to do this, we are in the process of rewriting MailWasher Pro from scratch. That means chucking out tens of thousands lines of code, work that has taken many programmers years and just saying “Bugger it, let’s do it again”


Read the full article:
http://www.firetrust.com/en/blog/chris/mailwasher-pro-needs-testers

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