Topic: 0.9-type issues

[Paul Reiss]

In his January 2005 newsletter, Brian Livingston wrote the following concerning MS's beta version of the Giant anti-spyware software:

(Note: The MS beta is incompatible with the MS Media Center Extender and has other 0.9-type issues.)

What are these 0.9-type issues?

Thanks, Paul

[BillB]

That refers to the programmer's designation of the version of the program. For example; Netscape is now at version 7.2, my IE is version 6.0.2800.1106.

There is a semi-formalized standard as to how much you have to change a program to advance a version by a whole number or a tenth. Obviously, MS includes more detail in their 10-digit number.

A 0.9 version implies that the program is not really sufficiently clean for wide public sale. You may find that some modules are unstable or features may simply not work. There may even be obvious security holes that they just haven't commented out yet.

It's disingenious to complain that something released as a beta has 0.9 issues. That's what a beta is for!

The 0.9 issues mentioned are those found in many beta projects: little or no documentation, potential crashes or data loss, unusable or poorly working features (bugs).

I have been using the Microsoft Spyware program since the articel came out and have been very happy with it.  I use it along with SpySweeper.  They usually find the same problems but one will also find problems the other missed.  I have seen some of the 'beta-ness' of the Microsoft program show through, including occasional crashes.  So far, however, it works very well for a 0.9 version program from Microsoft.