Quark Forums

How do we know if the apps in the Quark Labs are in essence a beta version or a final version?

I can't tell from the descriptions.

Is ShadowCaster a final version?

I'll think you'll find they are all beta (or possibly RC (release candidate)) by definition. As I understand it QuarkLabs is a test bed and anything that gets through will then hit the main Quark site's Xtensions download area with, possibly, a price tag.

Basically all the Xtensions in the 'Lab are there for testing, comments, feedback, etc..

Greg

Quark Labs is a test bed for projects that in most cases need a sponsor inside of Quark. We hope that the positive feedback here will give them the boost they need to see a life after their labs appearance.

so if they get the green light for final development will they have to be bought and if so do these test versions expire?

Right now there aren't any pre-defined paths for the projects on labs to follow. Some could become core parts of future shipping products, others may simply fade away from lack of interest, and yes some could become commercial products.

However these testing and feedback preview versions do not expire beyond being tied to the version of QuarkXPress for which they are coded.

Some projects on Quark Labs will never be officially integrated into QuarkXPress. ShadowCaster is a good example of this. While we do want to put the functionality of ShadowCaster into QuarkXPress, it's not going to be in the form of what ShadowCaster is today. We make it available on Quark Labs because we know there are customers who can take advantage of it; but we're not going to apply the feedback directly to that XTension, we'll apply the feedback to solving the same use-cases in QuarkXPress directly.

Every project on Quark Labs has a different roadmap in this regard. Some will end up as shipping components of QuarkXPress, others will be modules for our enterprise offerings, and some will never graduate past Quark Labs prototypes. All decisions about the future of these technologies will be made with the customer feedback from this site in mind -- that's the biggest reason why Quark Labs exists.

Dan Logan
Technical Product Manager
Quark