To make an impact on Revolution's future you didn't have to board a plane to Scotland or attend one of the RevCons in Europe or California. You could have instead joined scores of other users in a "virtual" bug bash -- and still enjoyed the benefit of some delicious pizza to facilitate the process!

What's a bug bash? It's where developers, testers, marketing people, end users --and just about anyone else who can be roped into it -- puts everything else on hold to pound on the product and shake out as many kinks in as short a time as possible. It's a long and hallowed pre-ship tradition at software companies large and small. But not many of them take place around the globe, as the recent "RunRev Bug Bash Weekend" did.

"After the extended public test of Beta 1, we had dozens of bug fixes lined up and ready to go," said Kevin Miller, Runtime Revolution CEO. "We also had a pressing need to release a version of Revolution optimized for the new look and security environment of Windows Vista."

So how do you hold a party across the world, when geeks are renown for their appetites? For this, PayPal came in handy. Everyone who submitted a bug during the weekend of Feb 16-19 received $15 via the payment site in appreciation for their time and contribution. (Users anticipating the experience of having Miller ring their doorbell with a steaming hot pizza pie in hand had to be content with a cannily simulated facsimile, courtesy of Photoshop.)

The bug bash ended up exceeding expectations. More than 100 people participated, with 25 people eventually filing reports. That's a few more than the 20 pizzas budgeted for the party (and several of the reports were duplicates, non-reproducible or not actually a bug) but Runtime Revolution stepped up and made sure everyone who filed a report got a pizza, anyway.

"We're seeing the new processes we've put in place are starting to make a positive impact on the quality of the product," Miller said. "We're becoming a tighter and more powerful community through events like this, and that is strengthening Revolution."

The bug bash did uncover a couple issues that were quickly fixed by developers. Revolution 2.8 shipped later that week, enjoying its status as the most robust and powerful version of the software to-date. But the work isn't over yet. Additional beta tests are planned on the road to Revolution 2.9, which will support Linux via a reworked core engine.

To participate in the "open beta" and future events like this, sign up here