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Become an Alpha or Beta Tester
Maybe you don't even know an alpha or beta tester
is yet, but before I get into that, I want to make sure you know
there's a big advantage to becoming one. I don't want you to
move on to another page before you get to that. When you sign
up as either of these, you will be given a code that lets you
automatically download the latest alpha or beta version. But
wait, there's more! I'm sure you were thinking
"There had better be more!" That same code will
enable you to purchase Home Domination or any add-on module for 30%
off the listed price. The discount does
not apply to any of the USBmicro products or a CD and the offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers.
Another
benefit is the joy of knowing that you've helped to
find and crush those pesky binary creatures that inhabit so many
software programs today.
If you've taken a good look at the download
page, you'll notice that beside the current release version
of Home Domination, you can also download a beta and an alpha
version. When a version is first made, it is tested
internally at StrandControl, LLC and then goes up to the
download page as an alpha version. A group of brave souls
called Alpha Testers are then alerted by email, and they download
it and let us know if there are any problems. If they find
some, we fix them and put a new version in its place. If no
problems are found at this stage, then the version gets promoted
to a Beta version.
Then another larger group of slightly less brave
but extremely noble souls are alerted via email, and they
download the beta version and put it through its paces. If something nasty
is found, a new version is made and it goes back to alpha.
If nothing is found in a reasonable amount of time, it is promoted
to the release version. Then, the people who are deathly
afraid of all creepy crawly things can feel confident about that
version.
Not all bugs that are found will cause a version
to be sent back to the drawing board. If the bug is not a
new thing and other things were fixed that we really don't want to
wait, we'll promote the version anyway and we'll make splattered
bug guts out of it on the next version.
Thanks to all the brave men and women out there
who have helped to make Home Domination the rock solid program
that it is. We salute you!
Home Domination is really a very solid program, so
usually the bugs that are found are quite timid. Kind of
like a gnat that keeps flying around your computer screen as
you're trying to type an email. Annoying, but not really
painful. In fact, usually they are not bugs at all but just
things you would like to see changed. I guess if anything is
annoying, we can consider it a bug. Most other companies
will write these things off as being "by design".
They should really call it "by crappy design". Not
everything you find will be fixed right away, but everything will
be documented and prioritized in our bug tracking system.
Once in a while, something really out of place can
cause some grief. Usually anything like this is caught long
before it even makes it to the alpha version. If it does get
that far though, it likely wouldn't get past our A team of alpha
testers. I don't think there's ever been a bug in Home
Domination that has caused someone to have to rebuild their
machine. Occasionally there will be a version that will
cause the program to crash, but it won't take everything down with
it. If you're running something earlier than Windows 2000,
you're probably used to programs crashing your machine on a
regular basis. If that happens, just reboot and you'll be
fine.
Just as a little bit of warning, occasionally
changing a control file in a newer version will make it so you
can't load it in an earlier version of Home Domination. So
it wouldn't be a bad idea to back this up just in case a new
version isn't quite up to spud and you need to run an earlier
version.
How much you do is entirely up to you. We
know people are busy, and we compensate for that by having lots of
testers. So if you're able to test a version, great!!!
If you're not able to test a version, we'll just grumble under our
breath and talk about you behind your back. Just
kidding. Hopefully you'll be able to test the next time.
The only catch is that you need to supply a valid
email address, and not whine and complain when I send you the
occasional email saying there's a new version ready for
downloading. And if you find something that isn't right, you need
to email
with a detailed explanation of the problem. Problems that
aren't reported are not fixed nearly as quickly as those that
are.
No. If you like, you can just beta or alpha
test until your 30 day trial is up. If you don't think Home
Domination meets your needs, then you don't have to do anything
else. You'll still be sent the emails unless you request to
be removed from the list. If later you discover that the
features you were longing for are added and you want another trial
period, just email and ask. As long as you haven't
completely worn out that favor, we'll give you another shot at
it. But please buy it, because you'll be the envy of all
your friends and neighbors if you do! You can use your beta tester discount at any time should
you decide to purchase.
You're in luck! There's no physical, no IQ
test, and no drug test. All you have to do is download the
program and provide your name and email address and then check the
box that says "I would like
to become a beta or an alpha tester". Then
click the radio button for which type of tester you would like to
be and click Continue. Voila! You'll be sent an
authorization code later with instructions about how to get your
30% discount. If you've already signed up once, please
don't check the box again on later downloads though or you may end
up getting a whole lot of duplicate emails every time a new
version comes out.
In case you're confused about the difference
between an alpha and a beta tester, an alpha tester is alerted for
every change, and a beta tester is only notified when a version is
promoted to a beta version. If you sign up as an alpha
tester and later decide you're too nervous to try the alpha
versions, it's OK to just test the beta versions. Just don't
let anyone know that you lost your nerve.
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