Longest "beta" software ever?

[insaneoctane]

Tesla had been selling AP as"beta" software since the beginning..... Since October 2014. That's now almost 5 years. How long can it possibly stay in this status? Any other companies beat this? What's the longest any software has been in beta mode?

 

[Tam]

...What's the longest any software has been in beta mode?

How about Microsoft Windows: It was not sold as beta but it's famous for "Blue Screen of Death".

 

[mal_tsla]

Gmail was a bit over five years. But yeah, autopilot is very vaporware

 

[BrandonLive]

Gmail was a bit over five years. But yeah, autopilot is very vaporware

It’s not vaporware if it exists...

 

[mswlogo]

Google maps was beta for years.

 

[tjkessler]

Pretty much everything google does is in beta forever. It's one of the ways of the valley to help you ship your plasma ware (not as solid as vaporware).

 

[JoshPA]

Dwarf Fortress going on 17 years...

 

[GolanB]

Pretty short time on the evolutionary scale of things.

 

[jerry33]

When your software is responsible for life and death situations, you don't rush it. (It didn't help that they were set back a couple of years by going down the MobilEye bunny trail.)

 

[ngogas]

Time to rename it to beta 2. Lol

 

[srs5694]

A lot of open source software stays in beta for a long time. I released my rEFInd boot manager in 2012, and it's still officially in beta.

 

[N5329K]

It’s not vaporware if it exists...

Here's the real secret: "It's not vaporware if someone thinks it exists."
Robin

 

[BrandonLive]

Here's the real secret: "It's not vaporware if someone thinks it exists."
Robin

But AutoPilot literally exists. Lots of people use it every day.

 

[duanra]

Maybe google map was a long time in beta but there is 1 big difference...it is free.

 

[mal_tsla]

But AutoPilot literally exists. Lots of people use it every day.

It's been redefined so many times the term AutoPilot has little meaning.

I'll rephrase: many of the features Tesla has promised under the general banner of driver assistance are vaporware. Here's some examples, if that helps:

Smart Summon, promised to pull up to your door waaaay back in AP1 days, still hasn't advanced past moving straight forward and backward.

Street lights, stop signs. Promised in AP1 days. Doesn't exist.

Speed limit sign reading. Regressed from AP1, uses a (often wrong) database now. Tesla is quick to point out data-driven autonomous driving is flawed because things like temporary road changes breaks it, but then gives us crummy data speed limits instead of reading actual, sometimes temporary signs like AP1.

The following original autopilot features are now arbitrarily categorized as FSD: lane change, (dumb) summon.

FSD doesn't exist, despite the video shown to the world in 2016 showing a car driving from a home to a office park totally hands-free. Instead, in the intervening years, steering wheel nags have consistently increased.

So... Ok, "autopilot" isn't strictly vaporware, because something with that name exists. But using the term is pretty fair game, even if not pedantic....

 

[brobinson]

How about Microsoft Windows: It was not sold as beta but it's famous for "Blue Screen of Death".

I don't think you understand what a beta is

 

[trm2]

Dwarf Fortress going on 17 years...

Not that I trust Wikipedia for anything serious or even mildly important, but Wikipedia states that Dwarf Fortress released its first Alpha version in 2006, which is less than 17 years ago.

 

[diplomat33]

Gmail was a bit over five years. But yeah, autopilot is very vaporware

 

[krettig]

The actual move quote is: "You Keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means".

 

[banned-66611]

They already sold people the ability to summon the car from the other side of the country or drive them to work while they take a nap, so until they can deliver that it can't come out of beta.

Musk's current estimate is next year, but he's been saying that since at least 2015.