Adobe Lightroom 3 – Beta testing done right

by Louis

For those not familiar with Adobe’s excellent photo management/editing software called Lightroom, think of it as Picasa or iPhoto on steroids. Adobe took the management/RAW processing side of Bridge and some of the popular post-production features of Photoshop and made one solid application. I could get into why this program is great for amateurs and professionals alike, but the purpose of my ramblings is to discuss how Adobe has handled the Beta testing of the upcoming version 3.

Back in October 2009, Adobe made available the LR3 Beta 1 to anyone who wanted it. It was posted at their labs.adobe.com site, a place where betas, previews, and other unfinished product live. During the beta period, Adobe closely monitors the forums at their labs site, and takes user feed back from the pros and casual users into consideration throughout the continuing development of the beta.

Sure, there are other software developers that have been doing it like this for years, but Adobe comes full circle, offering communication back to the users through the form of video updates and email communication. Yesterday, version 2 of the beta was put up for download. Shortly after, Adobe posted a video to express their thanks to the first round of users and explain what they changed and why. I know that after all this, I will most certainly be purchasing the final product when it is launched some time this summer. It is no secret that Adobe takes software development very seriously, and their labs beta testing program just solidifies this fact.

Video demonstrating what is new in LR 3 Beta 2