[phpnode]

yeesh, I respect Mozilla for their true open-source-everything-all-the-time philosophy but this is an example where I think it backfires - it's too early! Even if these really are awesome components it's really hard to see past the lack of polish. People are fickle and you only get one chance to make a first impression, it's important that these things look good

[daleharvey]

I dont believe it backfires. People are fickle, you get lots of chances to make a first impression.

I think the key is clarity in your communication, doing a lot of polish on top of unstable software and advertising it as stable causes people to waste time using it, advertising as beta / for early adopters lets the early adopters pick it up and the people who just want it to 'just work' can wait. If you lose a few people who dont understand the benefits still far outweight the negatives.

This is mostly just a disclaimer for people who are waiting to open source their software until 'its ready', its never ready, do it now.

[potch]

We were torn whether to call the current state of things alpha or beta, but yes, these are not ready for prime time. Where we and some other orgs disagree is that things should be kept secret until they're 'ready', when outside contributions could help you get them ready!

[davexunit]

It's never too early. Develop in the open. Make an official release when it's ready. The site makes it perfectly clear that it's in a Beta state.