Version 0.17.25

[nepp95]

Time to add some integration tests with mods? I don't mean Wube is responsible for broken mods, but at least lets say there should be something to ensure a bugfix/balance change does not make every mod user cry.

Don't think so. Mods should be an addon to the main game. Which means that either the mod updates to match with the newest version of the game (either stable, or experimental), or you leave your mod outdated, to work with an older version of the game.
Fortunately, a lot of mod developers update their mods quickly after Factorio has been updated.

Also, because of the detailed changelog, mod developers can easily spot what broke their mod. (or not, but in that case, they most likely don't know what they're doing)

[gorbag]

If it's dev-team only, it's alpha. The minute someone NOT on the dev team has a copy, it's beta.

Technically, this is incorrect. A software can be considered alpha as long as it's not feature complete - which is the case for Factorio.
I know Wikipedia is not the pinnacle of the universal knowledge, but it's a pretty good information source. and if I quote Wikipedia :

Depends on where you look. The origin of these terms was IBM, and the software community adopted them, along the lines I mentioned, in the 70s (and I was part of the software community in the 70s, so I know from which I write .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Product_Test

Things evolve, but not always for the better. Don't get me started on words like "awful".

[BlueTemplar]

Well gameplay wise it is feature complete. Nothing planned there.

You are right that it feels like beta when viewed from outside. But there is no automatism there, there is no beta-switch hanging in Wubes office that measures the rate of new features and when it goes below some limit turns the development to beta

I'm not even sure Wube will ever "call out" a beta phase. The EA development model (with its huge supply of beta-(or should we call them alpha?)-testers over the whole development) makes it relatively easy to just release a 1.0 after the bug list got small enough.

0.17 was mentioned as a "beta candidate" in one FFF (and the last version before 1.0).
Then real life happened, and features planned for 0.17 (main campaign, new fluid system, interface improvements(?)...) had to be split into 0.17 and 0.18.