A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

BETA

Mon, 24 Jun '24
? or ?
Thu, 9 May '24
Stage often filled with bugs
Mon, 4 Mar '24
Letter after alpha
Wed, 1 Nov '23
Test version
Sun, 30 Apr '23
___ blockers (heart rate meds)
Tue, 21 Mar '23
Possibly glitchy software release
Mon, 30 Jan '23
Letter after alpha
Wed, 11 Jan '23
Software prototype
Tue, 13 Dec '22
Often-buggy software stage
Thu, 3 Feb '22
Buggy app version, maybe
Thu, 5 Aug '21
Prerelease, in Silicon Valley