>I wonder how else they would do it (test it)?

Pretty much the exact same way we tested VFP 9.0, using the same test cases with VFP test team members running those test cases and reporting issues as they are discovered, etc. Nothing really different or changed than from past years here. The primary purpose in having a public beta of the SP is to get feedback early (before released) and to help out developers to work with it in advance, etc.