Becoming a Beta Tester

With all the great screenshots of FSX Accleration being generated and shared on various forums, a lot of users are inquiring about getting onto the beta program.

First of all, it's too late for FSX Acceleration. The beta for Acceleration will be shut down soon, so there isn't any point in joining it. If you want to be considered for the Train Sim 2 beta, then you should use the fs_ideas e-mail alias to sell yourself to us.

We won't open a beta for FS11 for a long time so it's too early to apply for that.

When users/developers for any beta program we look for the following:

• How the user interacts with the community (how active in forums, how helpful they are with other users, whether or not they can logically evaluate issues without being overly emotional about it, etc)
• If they are developers of add-on products
• If an existing beta member that is particularly good is willing to recommend the user for the beta

Being a beta tester isn't an easy job. First of all it's purely on a volunteer basis with the only thing you receive being the opportunity to see product before it's released and a final copy of the software (assuming policies don't change). You must be active on the beta forums or filing bugs to stay on the beta long-term. You have to put up with some nasty bugs and will likely have to install and uninstall software rerpeatedly and remove third party add-ons.

Honestly it can be a pretty painful process and for some when you see a bug that might impact you negatively, it can be quite stressful as well (especially if we resolve it as won't fix or postponed).

If you still want to be considered for it, then when we open our next beta tell us why you are qualified to be a beta tester and it will be considered. We have a large group of very qualified beta testers, so you need to be exceptional or offer something particularly interesting to make it in.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Tell_fs is fine and will be read by the TS team. There is also a link to give feedback ont TSInsider website you can use.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  I would like to sign up for the Train Simulator 2 beta, but when I send an email to fs_ideas@microsoft.com, I got an email saying that:"Delivery to the following recipients failed. FS_Ideas@microsoft.com"  I searched for FS_Ideas and found Phil Taylor's blog and tried sending an email to tell_fs@microsoft.com.  That gave me an automated reply saying "Thank you for your email." as the first sentence.  Is this correct?  If not, how could I volunteer for the Train Simulator 2 beta? Thank you in advance -Orion