Beta Tester Page/Becoming a Beta Tester

Who can be a beta tester?

You can become a beta-tester of Analytica or ADE 4.2 if your Analytica support/maintenance is current. If you are the registered end-user of an Analytica license purchsed in the previous 12 months, then your support is automatically current. If your license was purchased more than 12 months ago, then your annual support renewal needs to be current.

As of early April 2009, we've invited only a small number of selected users to be beta testers. We plan to extend this invitation as the initial glitches of the beta-testing process are ironed out. If you are very eager to get started as a 4.2 beta tester, just let us know by sending email to sales@lumina.com. ADE 4.2 is not yet available for beta testing, but will become available for a beta-testing period prior to the final 4.2 release.

Generally we will match the beta-edition to the edition you are currently using. For example, if you currently have a license for Analytica 4.1 Professional, then we'll provide you with an Analytica 4.2 Professional edition. With 4.2, it is possible to install multiple licenses, so let us know if you'd like to beta test multiple editions.

Our full beta-testing period will probably last at least a couple months.

Why become a beta tester?

• Test drive Analytica 4.2 early at no cost.
• Take advantage of the many new 4.2 features immediately.
• Help improve the final release.
• Participate in webinars on tips and guides on 4.2 features.

How to sign up to be a beta tester

If you are a current Analytica-end user with active support, and would like to be an early tester, please email us (support@lumina.com) and provide the following information:

• Who you are, and if possible, your 4.1 license code.
• Desired platform: 32-bit or 64-bit.

Note: To use Analytica 64-bit, you must be running a 64-bit Windows operating system.

• License type: Individual, named-user, or floating. The named-user and floating licenses are managed by a Reprise License Manager server (RLM), and require the installation of RLM also.

Feel free to test drive floating or managed named-user licenses. Both are new to 4.2, so we'd like to see these tested.

Responsibilities as a beta tester

We expect beta testers to:

• Sign up as a beta tester.
• Keep up-to-date by installing the latest beta build. You should receive alerts through Analytica when new builds are ready, and we may also send you email reminders when they become available. New builds will become available each 1 or 2 weeks.
• When you encounter an issue, submit a bug report as described in the next sub-section.
• Read through What's new in Analytica 4.2? so you know what new features are available.
• Explore new Analytica 4.2 enhancements of interest to you.
• Revisit the Analytica Wiki periodically. We will be updating and adding to content here throughout the beta period.

Contributing 4.2 documention on the Analytica wiki

During early beta testing, the Analytica Wiki will remain the only place to find material on new features in Analytica 4.2. Updates to the PDF manuals will occur throughout the beta period, but in general we refine new material on the Wiki prior to incorporating it into the manuals, so the manuals will lag.

As an Analytica user, you are invited to contribute to the documentation! Since it's on a wiki (using Mediawiki software, just like Wikipedia), you can add or edit any content. And others can edit or improve your additions. If you find text that is unclear or downright errors, feel free to fix them yourself. Or add comments, asking someone else to. If you find stubs or missing information, feel free to fill them in yourself, or add requests. Or if you come up with tips or interesting examples on how to use a feature, those also will be welcome.

This is a new experiment in the community development of user documentation. At Lumina, we know how important it is to have good User Guides and other documentation. But our resources are limited. We know that there are many highly knowledgeable Analytica users who may know more than us about ways to use particular features. And people seeing new features for the first time are better able to see holes or unclarities than we are. Together the community of users should be able to create better documentation than any single documentation writer. We look forward to your contributions!