has anybody experience with private beta tests

[stax76]

Hi,
the last three months I reimplemented wide parts of DVX to have a better foundation for future improvements plus I added new features like image based subtitles in mkv, WMV with native container and a lot more and I'm wondering now if private beta tests make sense. Actually I sended already binaries to some people and I wonder now if I should expand it to a few more people. Has anybody experience with private beta tests and a opinion on releasing programs in general?

[Guest]

I prefer open betas, as exemplified by my development threads in the DVD2AVI forum:

* version definition phase (separate thread)
* betas
* feature/fix cutoff
* release candidates
* release version

E.g., see here: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74732

You get the best and fastest feedback that way. People here really like to feel part of the development process, and to my way of thinking, they are a very important part.

Why would you want to limit your feedback by going private? That would be like ignoring the garbage man's critique because he's a garbage collector. :)