Pre Beta

Remember the days when “Beta” meant that the software just wasn’t quite ready for prime-time use but that you could “test” it out and provide feedback? Things were expected to break and be a little clunky. Those days are long gone. Today, “Beta” means that you can use it but it isn’t really guaranteed. Gmail was in beta for 7 years. The “New” Yahoo! mail is still in Beta and it has been out for well over a year. Both services work very well and have since the first day that they were available for “Beta” usage.

After many months of work, Public Chalk is in a state where the software isn’t quite ready for prime-time use but you can “test” it out and provide feedback. Unfortunately, that is no longer called “Beta”. So, we have invited a few friends associated with a few groups or events to test out the software in “Pre Beta”. Once we have the kinks worked out and the software is “Ready to Use”… we’ll call it “Beta” and invite a whole bunch of others.

Public Chalk, as it exists now, is a very robust service. It accomplishes the goal of providing a place for people to chat among friends in specific crews or groups of people, upload photos, enter reviews, make announcements, plan an event, and even text in messages to crews. And, beyond the user experience, there is lots of code in the background that manages all of these services and makes them secure.

Of course, there is a list of well over 100 “enhancements” and additional services that we’d like to provide for our users. Check back here for what is coming up next. Current users, please let us know of any issues you encounter or what you’d like to see next using the user feedback crew.
Thanks!

ETJ