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Originally Posted by eyelfixit
I wish there was a way for software developpers to be able to listen to people first and foremost before and during the construction of the software.
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Most companies conduct beta testing of their software, but currently it is not financially feasible to launch a full-scale public beta test for many titles. Even the full-scale public beta tests miss glitches with participants failing to report errors, and the need to balance detailed configuration data against participant interest.
Currently, the only feasible alternative would be something along the lines of Apple's model. One source of hardware, allowing for a single testing line. This only leaves software interaction testing. A more restrictive model would be the gaming console model, with a single machine to test on. However, the strength (and weakness) of the IBM-clone is the open-ended configuration capabilities, allowing multiple companies with multiple quality levels to produce hardware and software for the platform. The sheer permutations of hardware, let alone software or the hardware/software mix, results in a testing range so wide that it is not financially feasible to perform the testing in-house, and public beta testing is reknown as both unreliable and returning a very low ratio of usable problem reports.