be·ta
noun
The preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product; “a beta version”; “beta software”
On November 4th, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes wrote a blog article on ZDNet with the exact same title.
I have heard a number of complaints since Apple shipped the 4S with Siri. Apple took the unusual step of releasing an innovative and amazing new service, Siri, but also clearly indicated it was ‘beta’. Unlike Google that always releases software in a ‘beta’ state, Apple takes this very seriously.
Why does Siri sometimes not work as expected? Because it’s beta!
Why hasn’t Apple provided explanations on why Siri is down? Because it’s beta!
When Apple removes the ‘beta’ tag from the service, then at that time users have the right to complain and ask questions when it doesn’t work as expected. Until then, stop complaining!
I think most people understand that, however what is not so easy to understand is why they took existing internal-phone functionality like voice dialing and made it dependent on an extrernal service. Now even when Siri is out of beta users will still require persistent data connectivity for something that previously did not require this.
While I do respect and acknowledge your point about basic voice dialing functionality, it is extremely challenging to architect it with some things one way and other things, another way.
Apple clearly is betting on having always on access to the Cloud as the services being introduced will need to have 100% availability.
My only point was and is… when the service is announced as no longer beta, then at that time and only that time do we have the right to complain when it doesn’t work.
I don’t think it’s fair to call Siri a feature if it’s beta. It should be an app you have to download and agree to using it in a beta stage.
It’s like selling a car and calling it in beta testing. So if all the wheels fall off it’s not the companies fault because it’s in beta.
I know a lot of people who don’t even understand what beta is. All they know is Siri sometimes is broken. And that pisses them off because they bought a phone with a feature that only kinda works.