In the first image below you see that there is a Google Groups Beta still available at the URL http://groups-beta.google.com. The first thing I notice is: weird, why did they add -beta to it? The second thing I notice is: why is it still in the beta? Hasn’t Google Groups been stable and in production for quite some time?
After looking at the first one, the Groups Beta, I really only notice one major difference. The interface is different. The interface almost seems more user friendly to me. It’s not a “web 2.0ish” as everything else is, but it feels a little “cooler” to me in the sense that it’s easy to look at it. There is an easy button to start a new discussion and the sidebars are well used.
Google Accounts are integrated completely into the Beta, but I’m still unsure why the beta is still active.
As for the normal Google Groups, people are using these groups just as much as they are using the beta groups. I’m at a loss on this one.
This was future posted because I’m out of town right now
December 17th, 2006 at 9:45 am
There’s a difference in the UI, see old style vs new style (just to pick any two). The new style has room for a welcome message, user pages, shared files and a member list (not all shown on the group linked).
December 17th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Well, “beta” is the new buzzword of today. So anything with “beta” has to be cool, right? ;)
Flickr’s been around for ages, and it’s in “gamma.”
December 17th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Yeah, that’s a problem I see with Google products. Where’s the fine line of “beta” and “stable released”?