Should developers have early access to Beta releases?

jmurrayhead said:
And you think there will have been enough time for addons to be updated by the time 1.2 is released as stable?
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yeah for the majority there will be plenty of time.
jmurrayhead said:
Regardless, I don't understand the objection to some developers getting early access. Makes no sense and hurts no one.
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Maybe because they would not release it to developers until they are ready which will be the same time it could be released to the public as a beta anyway. Makes no sense to hold the beta back from public.
 
The question is more what do K&M need, not what developers should have. I don't think there are any significant changes to the API requiring external testing and feedback, so I wouldn't expect a separate testing phase for developers.

Of course I understand that the aim here is to give developers time to update their addons. The public beta test will be a good time to update addons. Prior to that you would be working with alpha software which is too unstable to build on.

More waiting is required. Untitled-3_03.webp
 
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Jake pretty much took the words out of my mouth. I feel like a majority of add-ons will work rather well on 1.2 without much work. The ones that will require a large amount of work are ones that rely heavily on the editor and hack them up a bit. Which, knowing one or two of them, have developers that are dedicated and will have their add-ons updated before the gold release.
 
SneakyDave said:
xF could sell a developer license to get access to early alpha's/betas. That would make sure the serious devs were involved, and weed out the riff raff wannabe's.
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I'd support this. I'm not a dev, but a service provider, and being able to support new releases from day 1 they are released would be a big bonus for us, and a privilege I'd happily pay for.
 
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No is my answer. That's a way for the appearance of favoritism to start. Third party developers are still just customers and all customers should be treated the same and have equal access.

On the other hand, I do think they should have access to a private forum where anticipated template changes and other such minor issues are posted by XenForo and then discussed amongst developers. This way developers can make a list of things that need to be done upon release. A list is easier to change than code if things are updated.
 
Answer: Yes. I would definitely love to have a preview access to XenForo 1.2

It would enable me to test my add-ons even before 1.2 beta is released. Best-case scenario, I would have them updated and working the day 1.2 Beta is available. It will enable me to better serve my customers which in turn are XenForo customers which will be happy about their add-ons being supported earlier on. It will enable users to upgrade faster and if people are waiting for the update to renew their license they will renew faster too.

As far as charging for it. Sure, why not? Other companies do it. Charge a $99 fee for developer preview access, and that requires an existing XenForo license. That way there is no need to cherry pick which people get access to it, and nobody gets without a chance. Only the serious people invested into the platform will go for that.

And as usual, disclaimers of "unsupported" apply everywhere.

Now .. about whether the XF devs would go for that ... I am really unsure. It is extra work. They need to wrap up the release. Package it. Release it. Make sure that only certain people can download it (more complexity on the licensing and downloading system). A major distraction from the bug fixing and that might even make the 1.2 release even later...

What is more important? Earlier add-on compatibility? Or an earlier 1.2 release?
 
Then every yahoo and their mother would pay for a developer access license and put unproven code on their live sites. Just look how many people and pulling at the apron in the "when's 1.2 going to be available" threads. And lot's of sites with unproven software in the wild isn't good business and will tarnish the image of XenForo. Change isn't always necessary.
 
Rigel Kentaurus said:
Answer: Yes. I would definitely love to have a preview access to XenForo 1.2

It would enable me to test my add-ons even before 1.2 beta is released. Best-case scenario, I would have them updated and working the day 1.2 Beta is available. It will enable me to better serve my customers which in turn are XenForo customers which will be happy about their add-ons being supported earlier on. It will enable users to upgrade faster and if people are waiting for the update to renew their license they will renew faster too.

As far as charging for it. Sure, why not? Other companies do it. Charge a $99 fee for developer preview access, and that requires an existing XenForo license. That way there is no need to cherry pick which people get access to it, and nobody gets without a chance. Only the serious people invested into the platform will go for that.

And as usual, disclaimers of "unsupported" apply everywhere.

Now .. about whether the XF devs would go for that ... I am really unsure. It is extra work. They need to wrap up the release. Package it. Release it. Make sure that only certain people can download it (more complexity on the licensing and downloading system). A major distraction from the bug fixing and that might even make the 1.2 release even later...

What is more important? Earlier add-on compatibility? Or an earlier 1.2 release?
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What is more important to me personally is earlier add-on compatibility. I seriously don't mind waiting for 1.2 as the more time they take the more stable it becomes and benefits of 3rd party developers getting to fix their add-ons earlier is such a huge benefit both to the devs and the members who use their add-ons.

But I'll leave it at that with my opinion as it's really down to XF Devs to make that decision and it's their time and effort they've put into making 1.2 what it is (which is damn good from what I'm seeing on xf).
 
Code Monkey said:
Then every yahoo and their mother would pay for a developer access license and put unproven code on their live sites. Just look how many people and pulling at the apron in the "when's 1.2 going to be available" threads. And lot's of sites with unproven software in the wild isn't good business and will tarnish the image of XenForo. Change isn't always necessary.
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It would still be unsupported for people that put that in their live site.
Kinda like putting IOS 7 on my iPhone right now if I have a developer license. I know what I am getting into if I do that.

I truly think that "beta" has become meaningless. The Devs could change the download package to read "Unsupported Preview" or something more .. suggestive as to the state of the software.
 
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If I were to have a say, I would say developers with paid addons with multiple purchases or dev's with free addons that have a very high download rate...

That way their paying customers are minimised, and more people can get their boards updated quickly.

P.S

I got up to page 2 and stopped reading, I really can't be bothered reading 5 pages...

P.P.S

Also, 1.2 Beta 1 is already released so...
 
You have no way to tell any information about paid addons. The general debate doesn't relate to specifically 1.2.
 
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