Risk of using beta versions

[BJTim]

Real issues are found during real work (mostly).
So the question arises, what the risk of using beta 8 (or any beta that follows) with production models is.
Are there significant changes to the database or its use, so that you risk your data, or is it just a use case risk, that new things might work differently in the release version?
Can one risk the parallel use of the 7.5 and 8.0 beta on production models (a desaster recovery consuming some hours of work is always possible)?

[Eve]

What is your risk profile?  I would say that the risk is small.

You face the risk that anything new in the beta is subject to change (or even removal.)

Data corruption or loss chance should be very small, but I can't rule it out as a possibility.

[BJTim]

OK, thanks.

I think, I can risk the use of the beta on my production models, then.

If things go horribly bad, I have my backups, but if that's unlikly to happen, I'll be glad to play around with the new features (especially the very welcome structured scenarios!).

[Krayol]

I wouldn't normally advise use of beta software for production (maybe RC2, but not Beta 1 anyway!).  The risk is that, unless your model is trivial then a corruption that isn't spotted immediately might cause a lot of damage.

While EA has good export/import facilities you might find it time consuming to recover a large model that was damaged in this way.

If you really must, then I'd suggest version controlling it and having regular check-ins (daily/4 hourly) to ensure that you can roll back if necessary.  Alternatively, do an XMI export from the root level and save them to unique names on a very regular basis.

The other factor is balancing the cost of work-arounds (if possible) in 7.5 against any instability experienced in 8.0Beta1.  If you find the latter relatively stable then this might not be an issue for you.

In any case, good luck.  Fingers crossed that this Beta1 is more stable than most Microsoft Beta 1's

[Geert Bellekens]

Fingers crossed that this Beta1 is more stable than most Microsoft Beta 1's

They usually are. EA and Sparx have their quirks, but in general EA is very stable.

Geert