Why anybody would like to be a free beta tester is beyond me, but lots of people are PAYING to be a beta (or sometimes even alpha) testers in "Early Access" games, so what do I know?
Early access beta's was made popular by steam. There actually is a lot of good games out there that otherwise would have never been developed. This is because it was crucial for the beta testing to fund the game development.
By paying for Beta testing you become an investor. Usually this means that you help shape the product with your feedback. Take start 11 for example, before it was released it was in Beta as a paid product. But, user's comment's and suggestions are really what helped shape its final design. The same could be said for Windows 11 beta program. Feedback helps shape the product. Some people enjoy being a part of that process and therefore invests in the product.
With drag and drop features or never combined tabs in start 11. That will also need to go through a beta testing phase with people that are willing to be early adopters. It won't go straight to release just as Windows 11 new build will not.
