<P> Usage of the "alpha / beta" test terminology originated at IBM . As long ago as the 1950s (and probably earlier), IBM used similar terminology for their hardware development . "A" test was the verification of a new product before public announcement . "B" test was the verification before releasing the product to be manufactured . "C" test was the final test before general availability of the product . As software became a significant part of IBM's offerings, the alpha test terminology was used to denote the pre-announcement test and beta test was used to show product readiness for general availability . Martin Belsky, a manager on some of IBM's earlier software projects claimed to have invented the terminology . IBM dropped the alpha / beta terminology during the 1960s, but by then it had received fairly wide notice . The usage of "beta test" to refer to testing done by customers was not done in IBM . Rather, IBM used the term "field test". </P> <P> Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before formal testing . These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, and unit testing . In typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions . Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete . </P> <P> The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white - box techniques . Additional validation is then performed using black - box or gray - box techniques, by another testing team . Moving to black - box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release . </P> <P> Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss . Alpha software may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version . In general, external availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software, while open source software often has publicly available alpha versions . The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software . At this time, the software is said to be feature complete . </P>

When does the alpha release phase of a software project happen