Having learned its lesson with the negative taint it gave to the Chrome browser, Google has kicked “beta” to the curb completely, expunging the once-ubiquitous label from all of its high-profile product offerings.

As with Chrome, the move is substantively meaningless, but perceptionally key:

Practically speaking, the change will mean precious little to Gmail’s millions of users. But it could help Google’s efforts to get the paid version of its package of applications, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Docs and other products, adopted inside big companies. Corporate technology managers tend to shy away from beta products, and Google wants to remove any barriers to adoption that it can.

“For business customers, it is an important sign in terms of the maturity of our product offering and commitment to this business,” [Google director of product management Matt] Glotzbach said. “I’ve had C.I.O.s tell me that they would not consider a product labeled ‘beta.’”

So, once again, the irony: The removal of a “beta” designator underlines just how hollow the designator itself was. The bright side: With Google being an industry bellwether, maybe its actions here will finally end the concept of a perpetual beta culture in software and Web development.