Re: Beta anti spyware

From: Galen (galennews_at_gmail.com)
Date: 02/19/05 

Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 13:12:59 -0500

In news:7C327F6D-F830-474C-A4AE-6FCFDF6E4EEE@microsoft.com,
Philly lawyer <Phillylawyer@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:

> Given your snide tone, apparently you think that I, and perhaps the
> others who have kindly responded to my inquiry, stupidly don't
> understand it at all. That very well may be true; I'm hardly a
> computer expert, that why I ask questions of people who know more
> than I. Why don't you save me from further ignorance and enlighten
> us about the meaning of the word "beta." I would greatly appreciate
> it, and it would be a more productive use of your time than posting
> nasty little insults in response to legitimate questions.
>
> "-Lloyd" wrote:

The irony here is that I've installed the beta on three computers here. One
is an old PIII at 1 GHz, the other is an AMD 3200 Pro+, the final is an
AMD64 3500+ and each system runs Windows Professional two with SP1 and one
with SP2. I've had only one 'bug' that wasn't the fault of the application.
Aside from the non-working functions and mis-spellings I've not one
complaint. I downloaded, installed, and loaded Kazaa on the slowest one and
with following the precautions of deleting the current restore files and
disabling restore it was able to clean it up completely according to the
beta and two other spyware applications. The one bug I found wasn't really a
bug in the part of the program I don't think and I couldn't reproduce it so
it went unreported. I happened to be compiling something at the time the app
was supposed to scan. I didn't want to do it on my 'main' computer so I did
it on that one. It threw a page fault error (the two were having a bit of a
fight over who got what for memory) at me and gave me the pretty BSOD. Being
the type of person that I am I had to reboot, compile again, and while doing
so I ran the scan and it worked like a champ though a bit slower than it
claimed it would finish but that's to be expected.

I've run the spyware scan with active virus scanners running at the same
time, with a trojan scanner running at the same time, and on top of that
I'll defrag at the same time if I so well desire though I must admit I've
just thought of trying that. People seem to think that beta means ready for
usage. Beta means ready to be tried by knowledgeable people on systems other
than those in use in the lab. The goal of beta testing is to find bugs,
report them, try to reproduce them, to put the application through it's
paces, and to try to break it in any way you can. I've been testing various
products for what seems to be eons and will go so far as to try to cripple
the application with a hex editor if need be. I will install it on a system
(I actually prefer ME for this one but, alas, I can't put this on there) and
leave the box up and running for days on end and while doing so I will run
benchmarks, scan, defrag, and basically give the application it's worst case
scenario. That, I think, is what we're supposed to be doing with this
product.

As I read in here, I don't post often, I find complaints and that's about
it. Is it a bug? Is it your system? Is it something that can be reproduced?
Not all, but many of the posts are simply from people who wish to complain
about the application. The goal of testing is not to complain but to improve
the product. Did it hose your OS and make you reinstall everything? Did you
ruin your entire computer? Did it catch on fire and burn your house down?
Yes? Good. Welcome to the world of beta testing, please be sure to try to
recreate the error before reporting the problem. We won't buy you a new
house, we won't issue more licenses for your OS (though I think that they
probably SHOULD do that one right there if it did indeed hose their OS and
that happened to be their last activation) and we certainly aren't coming
over to try to recover your lost data. The warning is clearly there in the
word "BETA" that is written all over the application. I suppose, that in
fairness, there should be a more clear warning to people on the download
page because people aren't likely to click additional links for more
information.

Starting on this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

I think that page should have a clearer warning listed directly on it but I
can understand that it does not and why it does not. The computer users who
have been at it for a long time, the people whom I like to refer to as
"power users," are less likely to think about the people who are either "new
users" or "average users" and we tend to think that they know as much as we
do. I imagine that the thought was that the average user would know enough
to not install the beta unless they were prepared to actively test the
product or that they were prepared for it to system errors thus placing a
giant warning on the page was simply overlooked. It's probably a bit late
now but a clear warning on the page(s) (near the top in bold letters)
letting people know that this program is not fit for release in general, may
cause errors, is known in the State of California to cause cancer in lab
rats, and should only be installed by people who are willing to risk this
and to be active participants just might have saved some of these
complaints.

Anyhow, that's just my opinion and I thought I'd throw it into the mix and
see what turned up. A clearer warning might very well have been a good idea
and it may be possible to insert that warning now though you might wish to
change the verbiage from what I opted to use. I'm sure that there is someone
out there who's gifted in the English language and able to make the warning
make sense.

Galen 

-- 
"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes

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