***Admin Note: Cross-Posted on the Blog--Please provide feedback***
As we near the 1.0 release (delayed by several days by the arrival of Charlie), we are already actively coding features for AcuInvoice 1.1. This next release of AcuInvoice will include a number of user interface improvements, feature upgrades, and modifications designed to improve the overall user experience; details have previously been posted here. In discussing plans for 1.1 with our engineers this morning, we have decided to seek feedback from the AcuInvoice user community regarding the notion of allowing subscribers to opt-in to the AcuInvoice staging environment, thereby providing access to an advanced preview of new features and allowing us to more rapidly assemble feedback that will make AcuInvoice more useful and productive for everyone. We stress that this would be on an opt-in basis and that users would not be required to use the staging environment. More details are below. If, after reading this post, you are interested, please post a comment or respond to the thread I have posted on the forum (go on, you know you want to join the forum).
What Is The Staging Environment?
We develop and test on an internal LAN, then perform advanced testing in a staging environment that has a configuration substantially similar to the live AcuInvoice server. Additional testing in the staging environment helps us find (typically minor) bugs that had previously gone undetected, and helps us further optimize the code prior to releasing it to the public. The more people use the staging environment, the faster the code can be optimized, and the faster the code will get out to the public.
Is It Safe?
Yes. We don’t put Blue Screen of Death code on our staging environment; it’s typically pretty solid and just needs to be reviewed by a few more users. Also, if we open up the staging environment, we would let you opt out at any time. Lastly, since we recently implemented Amazon S3 backups, we would easily be able to roll back your account to a previous day. The risk is quite minimal.
Why Would I Use The Staging Environment?
Good question. Here are a few reasons.
- You would get to see cool, newfangled features before everyone else.
- You would get to influence the development process more directly; your input is likely to have an obvious impact on the final work product.
- We would likely give out perks to staging environment users who provide significant help, feedback, etc.
If you think this sounds like something you might be interested in, let us know. Our go/no-go decision on this will be based largely on the level of enthusiasm expressed, so if you are interested, please let us know by commenting here or on our forum.