A generic rule is if you have to ask, you probably should not do it. I don't mean that in a flippant asinine way, but in a quite realistic way.
Eventually you will understand the concept and what the true implications may be for your use of beta software, but for heavens sake don't use a post here or on Wikipedia to make a short term decision on whether or not to participate in a beta unless it is so absolutely necessary you NEED to participate whether you understand the term or not. Since you felt the need to ask, you are not in the absolutely necessary to NEED to use it category.
Badly written betas can destroy your data and thoroughly screw up your system. So until you are savvy enough to see that risk as a non-issue because you have a well oiled back-up and restore system and don't worry about having to unscrew preference, registry and incompatible .dll files just say no thanks.
[Yes that is the doom and gloom version, but the risk is real.]
You should've been more specific on which beta. Almost everything is in beta at some point. Some betas are bad, some betas are practically perfect. ( Don't worry, Vista will ruin the chance of any of them being perfect :P )
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But nonetheless a Beta is a stage in software development, short before the software is going released to the general public.
Beta testing refers to a, sometimes, closed circle of users who are using the software to find any bugs in using it.
More can be found at Wikipedia.
Eventually you will understand the concept and what the true implications may be for your use of beta software, but for heavens sake don't use a post here or on Wikipedia to make a short term decision on whether or not to participate in a beta unless it is so absolutely necessary you NEED to participate whether you understand the term or not. Since you felt the need to ask, you are not in the absolutely necessary to NEED to use it category.
Badly written betas can destroy your data and thoroughly screw up your system. So until you are savvy enough to see that risk as a non-issue because you have a well oiled back-up and restore system and don't worry about having to unscrew preference, registry and incompatible .dll files just say no thanks.
[Yes that is the doom and gloom version, but the risk is real.]