Windows Live Web Messenger goes into dogfood

Windows Live Web Messenger goes into dogfood

Steven Parker on 20 September 2007 - 07:24 · 22 comments & 21724 views

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Beta is the new passé, and dogfood* is where its at. Calendar and now Web Messenger are now both in dogfoods that are running on external urls (you have to be signed up to the internal dogfoods in order to load the products - ie you need to be a Microsoft employee).

*Dogfood is a term used for internal employee Alpha testing before it goes into beta testing.

Here's the tiny Web Messenger shot from the homepage (with the new Windows Live Wave 2 UI)

News source: Windows Live Web Messenger Blog

Link: Neowin Back Page News | Thanks JonathanYaniv

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(3 replies) #1 SniperX on 20 Sep 2007 - 07:31

Dogfood? I have absolutely no idea what this 'article' is trying to tell me. Another case of an author trying to be overly smart and excluding a large readership as a result.

#1.1 Jugalator on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:21

It's a bit sad MS has started using this term for "pre-beta" instead of just, well, alpha... I mean, if that's the only thing they mean.

Because dogfood often instead means "the use of software in one's own production systems" and nothing more, where the product may or may not be an alpha or beta, and pretty unrelated to a specific stage of development. So a beta may be a dogfood build, but also may not be, same goes for an alpha.

Will this be yet a term in the line such as "release candidate" that now has been butchered to often no longer be about candidates for release, but rather builds they know are unfinished even at release? I wonder why they keep doing this...

Last edited by Jugalator on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:26

#1.2 Neobond on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:28

I assume it's Pre-Alpha. Remember that Alpha versions of software are sometimes sent to developers for internal testing, in that case they wouldn't receive a "dogfood" version that is intended to work on the internal network!

#1.3 Jugalator on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:30

However, MS blogger says...

Quote -

Its now available to some special people in a dogfood form (pre-beta) at http://dogfood.calendar.live.com/.

I assume it's a blogger who don't really care much either way, including how he use the term "dogfood".

(1 reply) #2 billyea on 20 Sep 2007 - 07:32

Doesn't look too shabby actually.
Where'd 'dogfood' come from?

#2.1 Jugalator on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:27

This time? A Microsoft blogger who wanted to introduce a new word to the international blogosphere. :p

Seriously, see the wiki article below for an example of a more common use than just a synonym for "alpha" or whatever that guy thought it was.

Quote -

To say that a company "eats its own dog food" means that it uses the products that it makes. For example, Microsoft emphasizes the use of its own software products inside the company. "Dogfooding" is a means of conveying the company's confidence in its own products.

(3 replies) #3 whocares78 on 20 Sep 2007 - 07:36

why woudl you call it dogfood, seems like a bad thing to me. this thing is dog food. i.e. no way i woudl eat it but i'd let my dog

#3.1 basix on 20 Sep 2007 - 07:52

Anybody whocares would know that "dogfood" is that which a company trickles down to their inner ranks to support alpha testing prior to world comsumption...

#3.2 SniperX on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:02

Quote - (basix said @ #3.1)

Anybody whocares would know that "dogfood" is that which a company trickles down to their inner ranks to support alpha testing prior to world comsumption...

So 'internal testing' then. Sheesh. See how much easier that is and how many more people understand it.

#3.3 Neobond on 20 Sep 2007 - 08:05

Well I edited the article ok?

#4 JonathanYaniv on 20 Sep 2007 - 09:15

November is usually the time when the new beta season starts

So it will probably be deployed into beta in one of the following months

November 07
February 08
April 08 - Probably final release, or final release in June 08

And, if thats not the case by June, the latest is August 08

Thats usually how the betas are managed

(3 replies) #5 zoonyx on 20 Sep 2007 - 10:01

Whats with the attrociously substandard, unprofessional looking and amateurish fake software boxes appearing on Neowin? Whoevers making them - give it up - they look awful.

#5.1 JonathanYaniv on 20 Sep 2007 - 10:15

You should have just used the Windows Live logo for the news article image.. and not a fake software box.

He's right, it doesnt look that great, im sorry.

Better to just create a thumbnail of the screenshot on http://wlwebmessenger.spaces.live.com, and use that as your news icon.

#5.2 Neobond on 20 Sep 2007 - 10:16

Not sure what you are all on about

#5.3 Esvandiary on 20 Sep 2007 - 12:48

Quote - (Neobond said @ #5.2)

Not sure what you are all on about

Neobond, master of subtlety... Sneaking through the grass like a ninja, he switches news icons faster than light

#6 JonathanYaniv on 20 Sep 2007 - 10:20

Now that looks WAY better Steven!!!

Thanks for updating it!

#7 nunjabusiness on 20 Sep 2007 - 11:39

I believe I remember the term orginating from the fact that Lorne Greene selling Alpo said it was "so good I'd feed it to my own dogs." MS used the term to refer to getting their employees to use their own products.

#8 zoonyx on 20 Sep 2007 - 11:41

Yay, much better. I saw an iTunes one the other day. They look terrible!

Better icon now! I'm happy.

#9 Xenomorph on 20 Sep 2007 - 13:35

I refuse to acknowledge the term "dogfood" to mean anything other than a dog's food.

#10 JonathanYaniv on 21 Sep 2007 - 01:50

The "word wheel" has also been added to the dogfood

Information about this is on the Windows Live Web Messenger blog

#11 creamhackered on 21 Sep 2007 - 17:18

That facebook group isn't anything to do with Microsoft and nor is the "official" blog. Just a load of BS from Jonathan Yaniv

#12 Pinnassog on 21 Sep 2007 - 17:30

web messenger sounds great.... but why on earth is someone again pretending as MS??????? it's internal dogfood - no public beta... the team is not taking external feedback at this time. Just wait for them to put something up officially (like on connect.microsoft.com)....

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Windows Live Web Messenger goes into dogfood

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