Software release life cycle
A computer program goes into beta when programmers have made the software do everything it needs to do, but there may still be problems. The people who make the software then give it out to other people, so they can test whether the software works properly. They may still find problems that they did not find in alpha. Some programs, even very stable, exist only as beta versions. The most frequent reason is that the developer continues to release new features which are not usually well tested. In this way responsible developers inform users about the increased risk of problems, but not to avoid responsibility. Even a final version of every program or operating system contains a disclaimer that says that a developer is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to a user.