Messages in this thread |  | | From | troy@mabooks ... | Subject | Concerning the word "Alpha" | Date | Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:40:01 -0400 |
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My 2 cents on the the use of the word "Alpha" to signify an experimental release:
Its not as if this Linux mailing group, Linus, or a committee of Linux gurus sat around one night and said: "Say, we'll just use the word 'Alpha' to mean an experimental and undebugged release of some piece of the kernel".
Use of Alpha for experimental release and Beta for pre-release of hopefully debugged software has been in common usage for some time now.
If we start calling experimental releases anything other than 'Alpha', we will be out of step with just about everyone else in the software industry.
This would probably not be a "good thing".
Its usually pretty obvious when one is referring to 'Alpha' the computer chip and 'Alpha' the level of software, Just like when I'm referring to Linus, the software guru, and Linus, the Peanuts comic strip character. When it is not I suggest using another name for the chip. Somebody suggested AXP, I believe?
-- todd --
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