About the beta testing of MSP6...

[Hulk]

I know Doc is beta testing MSP7, would you mind answering a few questions? I've never beta tested and am curious.

Does beta testing consist primarily of discovering bugs?

One you discover a bug how long does it take for it to be resolved? Has Ulead been responsive to fixing these things?

Do you also suggest improvements in functionality? Are these suggestions usually implemented?

What else does a beta tester do?

-Mark

[Dr Mordrid]

1. We spend most of our time hunting bugs, testing new features, evaluating work flow, checking for spelling errors in dialogs etc. etc. We also miss a s***load of sleep

2. How long it takes to resolve a bug depends on its severity. Easy ones might make it into the next build. More difficult ones might take take 2 builds to resolve. This is pretty much typical for not only Ulead but most other betas I've been involved with.

3. Ulead has historically been responsive, but in the MSPro 7 beta they have been even more so due to a new team leader who really cares about his work;

GREAT JOB JACK!!

4. A whole lot of beta suggestions make it into the products, but how likely this is depends on how complex implementation would be and how soon it's suggested. Suggest early and often is the rule.

That said some new features often don't make it into a new release, but instead are added in a patch or "service pack" soon after. Most of these are free, but some aren't. This depends on the product and the degree of added value in the feature.

5. The Ulead and Matrox RT.X beta teams both are...ahhh...somewhat "vocal" about what they feel should be in a new build; hammering the s/w engineers into submission whenever possible. When someone comes up with something particularly interesting (or wrong) the team leader may well end up with several single-spaced pages of supporting arguements once everyone has chimed in

6. We also test for hardware and software compatability, so having more than one system and a decent selection of similar or related products laying around helps.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jerry Jones]

I second everything Terry has written.

I have even written a letter of thanks to Ulead CEO Way-Zen Chen for Jack Hu's enthusiasm and hard work.

I never participated in beta testing before this MediaStudio Pro 7.0 beta opportunity came along.

This was a 'first' for me.

I'm very pleased to have participated even though it was a sacrifice of time, sleep... and...

...frankly, it was often plain old-fashioned hard work!!

:-)

I feel gratified to have played a significant role in getting certain items fixed that had been serious problems... for certain users... since version 6.0.

MediaStudio Pro 7.0 has been tested fairly rigorously.

And the individuals who have participated have all had very different hardware configurations, camcorders, and 3rd-party plug-ins.

In fact, there are 3rd-party plug-ins that will be improved thanks to this beta test.

(Yes, we found some limitations with certain 3rd-party plug-ins that the plug-in manufacturers have vowed to fix.)

As a result, I feel pretty safe in stating my opinion that the beta test for MediaStudio Pro 7.0 has been more effective, more thorough, and more successful than beta testing efforts for previous versions of this product.

I think future beta efforts will continue to improve and, accordingly, so will the product.

Do I feel MediaStudio Pro 7.0 is the best product in its class?

Indeed, I do.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Thanks for the info guys. It's nice to know that not only is the Ulead team responsive and knowledgable, but at LEAST two of their beta testers are as well!

[Dr Mordrid]

I dare say most MSPro users who lurk the forums and MUG list as well as those who know products associated with it would know 90% of the beta team, including one more person who is registered here at MURC. They can "out" themselves if they want.

Did we get everything we wanted in MSPro 7? Nope, but then that never happens. But we sure as hell twisted arms enough that the next build will be as improved over 7 as 7 was over 6.5.

That's a whole lot.

Speaking of betas: I'd love to betatest Chryslers new Tomahawk motorcycle for 'em

Dr. Mordrid

[JackHu]

Thank you Terry, Jerry and the beta testers for MSP7.

I find that there is a need to come out of the dark now. I have requested Terry and Jerry on many occasions on posting infos concerning MSP7 and Ulead products. They have done an excellent job.

For the communion that doesn't know me yet; my name is Jack and I am one of PM for the video-line products in Ulead, but if you have concerns concerning other products of Ulead you may contact me directly. I must warn you though, it is very busy at the HQ, therefore I may not reply immediatly. If you feel that the issue is very important, please contact Terry and Jerry and they will make sure that the message gets through to me.

I would like to thank the MSP7 team on the good job that they have done. I won't let you out of the bag since they are concern on exposing themselves to the community. We've done well.

Looking forward to MSP8!!

[Brian Ellis]

I'll chip in here. I have only recently joined the MSP 7.0 beta team, right at the end of the major work: this was because of a specific hardware problem that Jerry identified.

I'll second what Doc and Jerry said. It has been a wee bit difficult for me, having joined late, not to reinvent the wheel, but I have found a few difficulties, some of which have been or are being addressed. As for the hardware problem, I am frankly pleasantly surprised that the Ulead development team has been perservering to identify the cause for weeks, now, and is still working hard on it, even though it may affect only a very small fraction of users (perhaps less than 0.01%).

Version 7, as I see it now, is not 500% perfect (what software is? ), but it is pretty damn good and a very radical improvement over 6.52. I'm expecting to see a "release candidate" any day now (the others have already got this, but I haven't been able to download it because broadband hasn't yet come to my village, and it's a 200 Mb download ).

Unlike Jerry, I've already done a lot of beta testing of other professional software. With one possible exception, Ulead hold the crown for responsiveness to what their beta testers say. The team comes from NTSC- and PAL- lands, has Pentium and Athlon equipment of varying ages with a host of motherboards, tests on XP and W2k (I don't know offhand about 98SE), with DV and a variety of other capture boards, so the combinations are pretty well all-embracing.

I also second what Jack says, that any questions would be better going through one of the beta testers or, better still, posted on this or another forum where we hover. This will allow us to confirm problems and transmit them to Jack, also with the related views of others who may or may not have the same problems. As just one example, I recently barked up the wrong tree to achieve something in MSP 7. What I did worked, but was a clumsy solution. Doc quickly put me on the right path with a better solution*. Secondarily, this revealed a different small problem that Charlie Hills of the MUG netlist had previously identified and brought it to light again. None of this involved the Ulead development team up to then. What I'm trying to say is that there is a wealth of experience in the beta testing team and they will be able to answer most questions without involving the overworked Jack Hu and company: if not, they will be able to communicate more effectively with Jack than would be the case with everyone sending many e-mails to him. Either way, you will get your answer a lot faster.

* Incidentally this experience revealed a small weakness in the Help files and will allow them to be improved, as well - I hope

So, Hulk, the beta team is working hard, at all levels, to ensure that, when you open that carton in March, you will have as few problems as possible with what will be a surprising improvement in functionality and features. What Doc has shown you already is really only the tip of the iceberg! OK, a big tip! I have little doubt that you and others may find a few difficulties that have escaped the nets of the beta team - none of us is perfect - but I'm confident that they will be resolved as quickly as possible.