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Software testing A short explanation about the need of beta-testing. Alpha testing Software is usually tested in two rounds. The first round is alpha-testing and is done within the organization that develops the software. Mythwell.com is mainly a one-man organization, meaning that the software gets tested on only two or three computer systems and mainly by the developer himself. Alpha-testing is rarely sufficient because given enough users some will come up with ways to use the software never imagined by the developer. Which can give unexpected and unwanted results. Another reason that alpha-testing is rarely sufficient is because computer systems are so very different. Think about different versions of Windows like the original Windows 95, Windows OSR1, Windows OSR2, Windows 98, Windows NT, all of these with or without Internet Explorer 2, 3 or 4 (yes, this matters), with or without other Microsoft "upgrades" and so on. Hardware matters too, especially videoboards and software drivers for these boards. Then take into account different language versions. What works on a Dutch system does not necessarily work on a German system. Beta testing To get all remaining bugs and flaws fixed, most software goes through some form of beta-testing. This means that people are asked to turn the software upside down and report any problems or complaints. To make beta-testing efficient, it helps if testers can describe found problems in such a way that the developer can reproduce the same problem on his own system. If the developer by following the exact same steps can not reproduce the problem, it may be possible that it is a problem specific to the combination of hardware and software used by the beta-tester.

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