A commenter to my last post asks the following question, What is the difference between a beta, a CTP, a fully-supported out of band release, an RTM feature, and a service pack? The answer you get will differ based on who you ask, but I’ll give you my two cents on what these terms mean. Beta Let’s start with Beta. A great starting point is this post by Jeff Atwood entitled Alpha, Beta, and Sometimes Gamma. The software is complete enough for external testing -- that is,...