http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2013/03/01/your-beta-questions-answered

Main points:
1. the first 'friends and family' test happened on Feb 28th
2. public beta starts at the end of March

One more month... *claws out eyes*
At least we know how long now.

I would like to be picked, but on the other hand I kind of don't want to be. For one, I hate having to resist answering questions on a forum because of an NDA agreement. Also, I will get to play the betas but I won't be able to start the real game for another year when it launches. That's an even worse tease than slowly getting information.

I know, it'd be agony sitting there with info and not being able to share it.

Oh, one more point: the client is apparently 20GB.

When I got into closed beta of another mmo which is now released I never went to the public forums so I was never tempted to say something that could get me into trouble.

Like the fact it will start with more smaller and focused testing, but i just fear they won't have enough time to react to the feedback, make changes and move onto the next focus group. Unless they have several different groups going at the same time each with their own focus.