Beta Testing

Software Development Life Cycle can be divided into various phases - requirement, design, development, testing and implementation.Since Testing is a very important aspect of SDLC,various techniques have been developed over a period of time,for example ,unit testing,black box testing,white box testing,alpha testing,beta testing etc.

Beta Testing can be defined as a test for a computer product prior to commercial release.Beta testing is the last stage of testing,and normally can involve sending the product to test sites outside companies for real world exposure or offering the product for a free trial download over the Internet.

Recently Apple distributed the next update to the company's MAC operating system OS X 10.9.3 for beta testing to users that possessed an Apple ID ,signed up to participate and adhere to a confidentiality agreement associated with Beta testing process.
Similarly there are a lot of companies that give people the opportunity to participate in Beta testing their software like Facebook,Kaspersky,free dictionary even gaming products like XBox.You can go to the company's websites and see if there are any open opportunities for Beta testing,for example,right now Kaspersky needs Beta testers for their product (http://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/beta_testing)
When taking part in the beta testing it is necessary to:a)download and install the product you are interested in testing;b)spend a certain amount of time on familiarizing yourself with the product and testing it;c)prepare and send out bug reports on any errors found;d)provide suggestions on ways to improve the product being tested; and,e)report on compatibility issues (specifically related to your configuration).

References
https://cio.gov/software-development-life-cycle/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2456951,00.asphttp://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/beta_testing