When you see a product that is labeled as 'Beta', what goes through your mind?

Definitely on the excited _side_, though I rarely show emotion while visiting random websites. ;-)

I've noticed that "beta" can be an effective word to use while speaking from the dev side of things. It's even more effective while interfacing with non-tech-savvy types these days, because people are used to it. So the public sees "beta", but it's really only there because some internal process is a pain in the neck.

For example, if any given design approval process or other blocking organizational process is taking forever, you can say, "how about a beta. Are we OK to launch a beta?" And it's like the entire team can breathe again, without being quite as hung up on the launch concept. A beta! The public is OK when some things aren't quite finished, but still generally work!

In a lot of cases I'd guess very few people deeply GAF what the public thinks about that "beta" label, for the same reason--it's mostly about internal messaging and internal team psychology relief. And from there, discussions on quality and any fixes can continue in a friendlier way.