I recently loaded Ubuntu 10.10 beta on my laptop. This is the first time that I tried a beta distro. Am I correct in assuming that because the distro is still in beta, some of the packages are not available e.g. Broadcom wireless driver, Samba seems flakey, etc? As the distro development continues, will the beta be updated to a release candidate and then full release?

Your comments would be appreciated

From About.com

Beta Definition:

Definition:

A beta test is a limited release of a product with a goal of finding bugs before the final release. Software testing is often referred to by the terms "alpha" and "beta."

Generally speaking, the alpha test is an internal test to find bugs, and the beta test is an external test. During the alpha phase, the product is opened up to employees of the company and, sometimes, friends and family. During the beta phase, the product is opened up to a limited number of customers.

Sometimes, beta tests are referred to as "open" or "closed". A closed beta test has a limited number of spots open for testing, while an open beta has either an unlimited number of spots (i.e. anyone who wants to can participate) or a very large number of spots in cases where opening it up to everyone is impractical.

From Ubuntu's website:
"This is a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 10, 2010."

That being said, you should expect to find bugs and sometimes "flaky" performance, that should improve with the final release and future updates.

Thanks for your reply, SonnySee

And even though most alpha releases of proprietary software are only open to employees of the company who created the proprietary software, Ubuntu is FOSS, so that thing doesn't apply, as the software is free (libre) anyway.

About that original post: Here's your answer.