I have been beta testing software for about 7 years and I have dedicated computers to do that beta testing. My experience has been remarkable in that companies adapt different strategies. The best thus far is one of the companies ask it’s beta testers to actually vote for code release if 75% of the beta testers vote yes they do a release. Other companies don’t even ask I usually do not beta test very long for them as it proves the company does not really care about the end product they care of only one thing the bottom line.
My experience has shown that companies that listen to there beta testers usually do better when they become public companies or consistently out perform the market. There has been a time or two were I was actually restricted from buying a companies stock as I was involved heavily in the beta testing of a yet un-announced software product. Those companies that have not had the restriction in which I have been able to invest legally have always done good.
I am sure most corporations who get stuck with buggy software in which they have invested heavily wish those companies developing it would fix there code first. As pointed out in this article companies are loosing a bunch of money because of buggy code [ComputerWorld]