Interaction Beta Lab

This location provides the most recent pre-release version of Interaction 5.0d. Join the Interaction mailing list to get notified about upcoming pre-release versions.

• Download Interaction 5.0d (July 11, 2003)

Feedback about pre-release versions and functionality introduced in updates should be emailed to beta@in-progress.com. Please do not report problems with betas nor discuss pre-releases or updates on our public mailing lists, as it tend to confuse new users and others that don't participate in the beta process.

About Versioning and Rapid Iterative Development

A beta version is software under development, and is made available with the purpose of testing it in real use to eliminate bugs and other problems. It is a good idea to make a backup of your content before installing a new version of any software, included Interaction. If you are not into taking the risk of encountering bugs and report them, you should download the current Interaction Official Release instead. On the other hand, your cooperation and help in very much needed to get the release ready. Without your input, it will take longer to get everything in place and the new version may not be as good as it could have been with your participation.

We usually introduce new functionality to Interaction through the use of Update components. An update component is a file that is added to the Components folder of Interaction. An important reason for the updates is so that we can learn about eventual inconsistencies that follows the new functionality, as changes always carries a risk. Updates thus plays a role similar to development and alpha releases of software, but can be disabled simply by removing the component or replacing it with a previous one.

Thanks to that Interaction is refined and improved incrementally through the use of "Update" components, the development/alpha/beta phase of a new Interaction version are completed faster and with less risk than for most other software of similar complexity. However, before a final release is ready, Interaction will go through three phases and two ultimate steps with the goal to eliminate as many inconsistencies as possible:

1. Development version: Some new functionality are still to be added. the purpose of a development version is to get suggestions for smaller improvements and to eliminate any major flaws. Suggest improvements and changes to eliminate obvious inconsistencies in normal operation.
2. Alpha version: Most functionality is added, and all major flaws has been detected and removed. The goal of an alpha release is to get rid of any flaws in normal operation introduced with the most recent added functionality. Report any major or minor problem.
3. Beta version: All new functionality has been added. A beta version should be tested extensively to identify any bugs, included problems that only happens under circumstances outside normal operation. Report all inconsistencies immediately!
4. Final Candidate: The new version is expected to be ready for release, and submitted for approval that it has no problems included new bugs that may have been introduced while eliminating other problems with the beta version. No flaws should be accepted!
5. Golden Master: The version is almost for sure ready for a release, and made available just in case. Everything should be expected to be perfect unless explicitely documented, so report any flaws that aren't in the list of known problems.

You can find the version code using the About Interaction dialog of the Apple menu. The code is placed in the top right part of the dialog, and looks like this: . A development version has the character 'd' in the code, 'a' is for "alpha", 'b' is for "beta", 'fc' is for Final Candidate, and 'GM' is for Golden Master.

Reporting a Problem

Please report bugs and other problems as soon as possible so these can be corrected in the next update. Send us an email at bugs@in-progress.com.