Having been a professional software developer, I have a few thoughts on this MS Outlook crash issue subject:
1) Often the company behind the developer does not want to invest time, equipment, or manpower into adequate testing. Shame on such companies! I do not know for certain if this applies to Avast.
2) Beta testing should not be expected to replace #1 above, EVER! If a company or developer starts blaming release errors on beta testing, then their whole testing and release process is a scam, and is out of control. The products of such companies should be avoided like the disease that they are. Neither a person nor a business can afford the time, cost, and frustration of companies that rely on such business practices. I do not know for certain if this applies to Avast.
3) When any software item is revised in any way and released for testing or production, it gets a new version number, and the package(s) which contain it get new revision numbers. Period. Period. Period. Any company that does not follow this model is prone to stupid, foolish, and accidental internal errors, will breed internal confusion, and the company is certain to confuse customers trying to maintain solid systems. I do not know for certain if this applies to Avast.
4) A company should have developers that deal with development planning, problems and issues. Sometimes issues that developers are confronted with are difficult to estimate a time of resolution, especially if resources are limited (see #1 above) and change control and documentation (see #3 above) are not well managed. Doing problem identification, development of a solution, completion of the development, and complete testing requires time, effort, and well planned behavior. Likely one or more of these things were missing to have allowed the problem to exist in the first place.
5) It is the company's management, sales and communication staff (THE customer support team) that should respond to customers about issues in the field, not the developers. If the company doesn't have a properly trained and functional customer support team, then customers are left in the dark when problems arise. In some cases, a company's customer support team will lie to customers about problems and estimated fix times. The customer should be given clear and truthful answers about problems that exist, and be advised about estimated problem resolution dates. If a release date is flat out unknown, then say so, and give a reasonable guess of range. This can help the customer make decisions to minimize down time. A customer wants to know quickly to install an older version if that will reduce their down time. Getting no feedback from company about a known problem that causes customer down time shows total lack of respect for the customer.
MY EXPERIENCE included a long (too long) silence, followed by an heart felt apology, with unclear (to me) instructions on how to implement the resolution.
It is my hope that Avast will learn from this failed occurrence and quickly implement the needed corporate changes. I hope that the changes needed are minor, as otherwise I think that a re-occurrence will contribute to a major thinning of their customer base and provide an opportunity for some other company.