From "Google finally dropping 'beta' from some apps":

Google Apps Premier Edition, the paid version of Google's online applications suite that comes with customer support and a service-level agreement, is not labelled as a beta, noted Matt Glotzbach, product management director for Google's enterprise products.

But he acknowleged that many of the applications within it, such as Google Docs and Google Calendar, still are. "It's a minor annoyance and something you'll see addressed in the not-too-distant future," he said.

Pressed further, Google Docs Product Manager Jonathan Rochelle said: "We're going to deal with that very soon; we're going to figure out a way to fix that."

As I wrote previously, it seems silly to have something in beta for 5+ years with no sign of coming out. Coming out of beta gives no guarantees that bugs will never occur again. In my view, the sooner you get out of beta, the sooner you can start focusing on the next release.

Besides, it's a bit odd to have software in beta that businesses are paying to use. You can't have it both ways. I'm glad to see this use of the word "beta" is likely to come to an end soon.

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