Way back during the days of WP7, MS did a developer beta of WP 7.5 that was easy enough for an enthusiast to flash their current device with. Even though it wasn't official, it gave many WP users the chance to play around with 7.5 a few months before it's official release. Fast forward a few years and It seems now that MS has taken a more liberal and open approach to allowing it's customers to test drive updates in the form of the GDR3 preview, which was a simple and straightforward update process that anyone could do even without technical knowledge.
Will the trend continue with WP 8.1? Now that it's rumored to have a release of late spring/summer, what's the chance of them releasing a public beta or preview before the "official" release to generate buzz and give devs a headstart? It would be a massive misstep if they waited that long to get it in the hands of customers, especially considering just how recently Android and iOS went through major revisions, and WP is starting to lag behind in it's feature set compared to the other 2 major OS's.
Thoughts, predictions?
Will the trend continue with WP 8.1? Now that it's rumored to have a release of late spring/summer, what's the chance of them releasing a public beta or preview before the "official" release to generate buzz and give devs a headstart? It would be a massive misstep if they waited that long to get it in the hands of customers, especially considering just how recently Android and iOS went through major revisions, and WP is starting to lag behind in it's feature set compared to the other 2 major OS's.
Thoughts, predictions?