The Register has a story up on the IE7 beta, and the allegedly disappearing toolbars - i.e., there have been some reports of Yahoo and Google toolbars not working in the current beta. There are a few simple things to keep in mind here:

• So far as I know, this is a limited (so far) access beta. At that stage in a product's release, stability and full functionality should not be expected
• I have no idea whether Google and Yahoo have had access to the beta, but I'd bet good money that the testers don't have updated copies of the toolbars

Those are the first things that come to mind. However, that's not really the lesson behind this whole thing. The lesson is in the early PR, and how it gets taken. Have a look at this, this, and this on Scoble's blog. Now look at the linked piece from The Register. There's also some information over on the IE blog. It's all very confusing to those of us who don't have access to the beta.

Which gets to a basic problem in the always on world that we have now - limited access betas are mostly pointless now. Why? Well, look at this whole dust up. Someone complained about toolbars disappearing. Afraid of the Kryptonite effect, Scoble raced out with a bunch of posts (and, according to the Register, a few emails). In the meantime, most of us don't have access to the product in question. To us, this looks like a bewildering array of charges, counter-charges, and explanations. Heck, The Register accuses Scoble of dishonesty.

There are a few possible fixes here, I think. One is, don't do limited access betas at all. If you intend to make a beta publicly available, then make it widely available. Otherwise, you'll get what you see here - lots of commentary being slung over the heads of the unwashed masses.

Another possibility is to have limited access betas, but use NDAs to keep the (small) group of users from making every little thing public. That might have been the best path here for MS. Finally, it would probably be a good idea for leading edge responders (like Scoble) to catch their breath before rushing out with multiple statements. It's one thing to end up like a deer in the headlights, as Kryptonite did. It's another thing entirely to turn a small, transient bug into a mini-storm. Sometimes, the best communication is less communication.