Ah, nothing like a terrible pun to start a blog post.  But, since we’re chock full o’ good news, I figured I’d get a pass on that.

As the subject line implies, Bug Labs is ready to start beta testing the platform.  We need to test out the SDK, the environment, the interfaces, the APIs, and, yup, you guessed it, the hardware too.  Now to set expectations right off the bat: we don’t have nearly enough units to go around (yet), so there’ll be quite a bit of testing in a software-only environment (which is a-okay, as we have a full emulator that gives you a Virtual BUG!).  Also, we’re going to use a bit of a "staged" approach, so we will start small, then slowly expand the pool of testers as time goes on.

We’ve also decided that we’re going to "open up" the beta to the community as much as we can.  Testers will be welcome to blog about the process, or even consult with their peers regarding technical challenges they face.  Our objective here is to engage with developers so that we can launch with not just a polished platform, but one that has had real hands-on use from the very people who would be interested in using it!

Also, in case you are thinking "well, why don’t they just let everybody in if they really want the best feedback" please let me explain.  Bug Labs is still a small team, and we need to have the ability to really learn and grow from this process.  While we’d love to include "everyone" in the program, we simply don’t have the resources to effectively manage the feedback we’d get.  Whereas, with a smaller group we can have a lot more "hands-on" and interactive time with the testers.

If you don’t get picked, we’re sorry we couldn’t get you involved yet, but remember we’ll constantly be increasing the beta pool over time.  Also, we are launching the products this Fall, so it’s not really that far away!  Finally – huge thanks in advance to anyone/everyone who is interested, we sincerely appreciate it!

UPDATE: We stopped taking new entries on Wednesday, Sept 5th as we begin the
process of culling the list. Fret not, however, as we’ll have numerous
open-invites and ways to get involved in the coming months. Keep an eye
on the blog or website for more updates.

Posted in Uncategorized by Jeremy Toeman | on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 11:55 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.