>Do you *really* believe the gradual release of the beta to the public was not pre-determined (probably correctly) in a way so as not to jeopardize conference registrations?
>
>>DREAM A LITTLE. After all, MS and KenL in particular were firm that there was ONLY to be beta distribution at DevCon. But some people (not me, sadly) persisted, kept the dream alive, and the rest is history.

Ken was pretty clear - the beta was originally ONLY going to be distributed to people going to Devcon, or to people already included in the private beta. He didn't hint about anything else; I read his posts closely for exactly the reasons you specify :) However, I do think they changed their mind at some point and, no doubt, the timing of the release of the full public beta was planned to be after the conferences.