There are 5 different steps or milestones in a
products lifecycle from beginning to release. These are:
Stage 1 - First Cycle -
QA Handoff/Acceptance - This is the milestone that determines if a
product is stable enough to be tested against. When a product reaches this stage, it is generally released to QA Testers to begin the testing stage of the produt.
Stage 2 - Alpha phase The product is still in QA review, but the testing scenarios are a little more destructive in nature, in an attempt to start shaking out most of the bugs in a product.
Stage 3 - Beta phase- the product is at a stability level that it can be released to select customers in the customer base for further testing in the 'real world'. This usually shakes out more bugs in a product.
Stage 4 - Release Candidate - This stage is towards the end of the cycle - The product has gone through its testing paces, and is being certified as ready for release.
Stage 5 - GA -The product is ready for the world!
Reference:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006020204792Kyle Wang