YouMoo!: Beta Testing
**[Question](http://nslog.com/archives/2005/09/25/qotd_beta_testing.php): Have you ever beta tested any software (in an official capacity, not by warezing an early build of Photoshop 17 or something)?**
Yes, I’ve beta tested quite a few different pieces of software:
* [Quicken](http://intuit.com/) for two years (Trinity and Dakota). I was even named one of the top beta testers, receiving an [Amazon](http://amazon.com) gift certificate and a beta test polo shirt.
* [iKey][] from [Script Software][] is a macro reording utility which allows you to build palettes and menus of frequently used commands.
* [idTunes][] is also from [Script Software][]. Unfortunately, for as good as [iKey][] is, [idTunes][] is that bad. (How long should you have to wait to get help on the [official support forums][1]? If I ever get an answer to [why I can’t install][2] the program, i’ll post again. It’s been over a month so far and no reply to be seen.)
* [Bluebeard][] (and the follow-up [Bluebeard 2][]) was a newsgroup binary extractor. It still works, though work just stopped on it about two years ago. I was more interested in it before Comcast limited access to newsgroups to som enumber of MB per month.
* [ShapeShifter][] is one of the [Unsanity][] [Haxies][]. I try to do some testing, but one major problem I have is that most of the themes that are available look like crap.
* [skEdit][] is an editor which was originally designed for editing HTML.
* [YouControl][], by [You Software][] got started off on the wrong foot and may finally be close to recovering. They took a number of free utilities (like [Pasteboard][]) that worked well and merged them in a menuing system that didn’t. And the free utilities went away.
And I will probably continue to beta etst other software, depending on what the future brings. (This is not to say that this is an exhaustive list, since I’ve used other programs that have been involved in extended public betas.)
[iKey]: http://www.scriptsoftware.com/ikey/
[idTunes]: http:/wait to get help on the [official support forums][1]? If I ever get an answer to [why I can’t install][2] the program, i’ll post again. It’s been over a month so far and no reply to be seen.)
* [Bluebeard][] (and the follow-up [Bluebeard 2][]) was a newsgroup binary extractor. It still works, though work just stopped on it about two years ago. I was more interested in it before Comcast limited access to newsgroups to som enumber of MB per month.
* [ShapeShifter][] is one of the [Unsanity][] [Haxies][]. I try to do some testing, but one major problem I have is that most of the themes that are available look like crap.
* [skEdit][] is an editor which was originally designed for editing HTML.
* [YouControl][], by [You Software][] got started off on the wrong foot and may finally be close to recovering. They took a number of free utilities (like [Pasteboard][]) that worked well and merged them in a menuing system that didn’t. And the free utilities went away.
And I will probably continue to beta etst other software, depending on what the future brings. (This is not to say that this is an exhaustive list, since I’ve used other programs that have been involved in extended public betas.)
[iKey]: http://www.scriptsoftware.com/ikey/
[idTunes]: http://www.scriptsoftware.com/idtunes/
[Script Software]: http://