Should we be able to update JBDS 8.0.0.GA ("Branded Product") -> 8.1.0.Alpha1 via Early Access?

Max brought up a question on a call today:

Should we be able to update JBDS 8.0.0.GA -> 8.1.0.Alpha1 via Early Access?

This was supposedly in the original scope for the creation of a Early Access site, but I never saw that. So, in order to get some eyeballs on this idea, and to get buy-in from QE/doc/dev/PM/PgM/PL, I'm cc:'ing some people here so we can discuss the cons and cons of this idea.

cc: mmusaji mmurray exd-mmalina manderse@redhat.com mistria@redhat.comldimaggi@redhat.com bsutter@redhat.com rhn-engineering-jpallich rhn-engineering-rruss fbricon@redhat.com

(Aside: has anyone noticed that there's an plethora of people with "M" names on this team?)

Things to consider:

a) what happens if an 8.0.0.GA user suddenly finds they've updated to an Alpha or Beta release? Can they uninstall? (Probably not, if they started with the installer; probably yes if they started from BYOE / Marketplace.)

b) how will GSS support these "I was on GA but not I'm on Beta" users?

c) What about project examples that might / might not be compatible between 8.0 and 8.x, eg., because of changes in Eclipse Luna or a new default runtime (EAP 6.3, 6.4) ?

d) what could possibly go wrong?