Stable or beta version?

[Fusakin]

I was inquisitive all but which sort of version of Rainmeter are you utilizing?

Vote in the poll above. :love:

[dragonmage]

Latest and Greatest. I always use the betas.

[jsmorley]

The betas are really just as stable as the release. No reason at all not to use them and get the new features.

[Dave_W]

Never had a problem with the betas in terms of stability - plus added functionality.

At this point, having today seen someone in the know recommending an upgrade to the beta in response to a help request, frankly I'm a little unclear on why the new releases are determined as beta at all.

[jsmorley]

To be honest there are a few reasons:

1) We don't want to flood new "releases" out there as often as we do the betas, as the sites like Lifehacker that do big articles on our new releases and are a huge help in getting the word out would soon get "Rainmeter fatigue".

2) While the betas are and have been very stable as they are internally tested pretty well before we go public with them, you never really know for sure until hundreds of folks on all kinds of systems have tried it, and tomorrow could be "the day" that we run into a snag with a beta and have to rush out a correction. We want the flexibility to be able to do that without having a ton of people flaming us.

3) The betas really "nibble" at functionality. I like it that way, as it allows us to test without trying to figure out which of 10 new features released all at once is causing an issue. Then when we reach a point where we have enough new stuff to warrant a release, we do so. Some users like to get the new stuff as it comes, and thus like the betas. Some prefer the "warm and fuzzy" comfort of an upgrade once or twice a year and they can stay with the "releases".

[Dave_W]

Okay, interesting. (2) certainly makes sense to me - I always assumed that was the reason why so many Google products were in perma-beta for years.

I guess it's probably more my fault for having the connotation in my head that beta=unstable, which isn't necessarily true. To me the betas are more like minor version iterations and the releases are like major versions, but it's all just semantics...I was just curious!

[JamesAC]

I generally stick with the beta's as there is a fairly constant stream of new or improved features over time.

I also use my own builds with a couple of modifications. I don't yet know enough C++ to change anything major but I have altered the context menu a bit.

[jsmorley]

I generally stick with the beta's as there is a fairly constant stream of new or improved features over time.

I also use my own builds with a couple of modifications. I don't yet know enough C++ to change anything major but I have altered the context menu a bit.

That's a good idea. I have so many configs and themes that those context menus are just useless. I should change my version to just have "configs" launch RainBrowser and "themes" launch RainThemes.

[JamesAC]

I should change my version to just have "configs" launch RainBrowser and "themes" launch RainThemes.

Thats a good idea actually. I have currently only added a "refresh skin" option to the main context menu and changed some of the wording.

I need to figure out a bit more of C++ before I can do much more though.

[Kale]

I use the standard version simply because it's easier. I appreciate the new features, but I haven't seen a skin that yet that uses them that made me immediately want to go update to the betas to use.