What are we to manufacture of Google’s “beta” products and “experimental” features?

Just like Microsoft and many other software companies, Google designates a huge number of its many online services as beta, and many features as merely “experimental.”

For example, did you know that Gmail is still in “beta,” and has been in the “beta” stage of development for five years?

Some of Gmail’s best features aren’t “real” features, but designated by the company

as “experimental.” Gmail Labs launched in June, and since next the company has posted more than 35 “experimental” apps or features.

How much money has Google made from Gmail? The business model is and will always be an “attract users and sell advertising” proposition, regardless of when it arbitrarily chooses to remove the word “beta” from the Gmail logo. So what makes it “beta,” precisely?

I’m proposing that we all stop taking […]

Orginal post by Mike