Robert Broze: Beta Tester of the Month--January

A lot of people in the EQO community don’t even realize that they are Beta testers, so I wouldn’t expect many of them to know that they are eligible for a super-fantastic Beta tester award. That is why I’m announcing here, for the first time ever, the “EQO Communications Beta Tester of the Month” award.

A Beta test’s success relies primarily upon the comments of its Beta testers. Software developers need to hear both positive things, like “EQO Mobile’s IM is totally awesome!”, and constructive things, like “Why don’t you do it this way instead?”, so that they know what to improve upon and what to throw away. Here at EQO, we appreciate all of the valuable feedback that our Beta testers have given us over the last year. The "Beta Tester of the Month" award is just one way for us to show our appreciation.

This month’s winner of the prestigious award (and free EQO prize pack--who doesn't love free stuff?) is EQO user Robert Broze. Robert Broze has tirelessly tested EQO Mobile over the last week on one of the rarest of configurations I’ve ever heard of (EQO Mobile + Treo 650 + Enfora WiFi sled + Mac PowerBook G4 + Skype). In total we have corresponded via e-mail about 6 million times in an attempt to figure out why his EQO for Skype plug-in won’t connect to our server—I’m serious, 6 million times—and although we still haven’t solved all of his issues, we have made progress. For this ridiculous feat of human endurance Robert Broze is our Beta Tester of the Month!

What will February bring? I eagerly anticipate this month’s feedback from EQO Mobile Beta testers. Let me know, “What are we doing right?” and “What could we do better?” As usual, you can e-mail me your comments and questions about EQO, and your take on the Canucks’ chances of winning the Stanley Cup at peter@eqo.com.