I don’t know how many of you try out beta software, I know that it’s not always without it’s headaches, but in the end; you do get to help shape the product that you might be using in the future. I’ve been testing beta software for years, mainly out of curiosity, to see what the next version will look like, not all the features are enabled to begin with, but it is nice to see the product taking shape; and being able to have some input before it’s released.
Beta testing is incredibly useful,you get to see the new features of a product, it allows you to start planning for your upgrade; and sometimes, it comes with some fringe benefits, like a gift voucher or maybe, f you’re really lucky, a free product 
.
Today, I was 1 of the lucky ones, I got to test some software for an hour and I got a nice gift voucher out of it 
. A nice thank you from a company that you are helping to test new versions of products before they are released. Especially now that we are getting to close to Christmas! 
If you do decide to start beta testing, make sure that you do it on a disposable environment –like a virtual machine or something. Whatever you do; do not install or use beta software on your production systems.
Phil Jackson's Blog 