The hospital I hope doesn't make the surgeon buy surgical instruments and gives it to them so they can operate. Certainly they wouldn't give that to me because I am not a surgeon
RIM I hope doesn't make the developers pay for access to Development beta and gives it to them so they can develop. Certainly they wouldn't give that to me because I am not a surgeon.....Oh wait they just did....
Anyone can become a developer by reading a book or following online tutorials. It won't make you a good developer, but it will make you a developer. That's why RIM made the beta public, there isn't some master list of who's a developer and who isn't. Instead the page says very clearly:
Warning: Only proceed with this upgrade if you are a developer that needs to test an Android app packaged for the BlackBerry PlayBook or BlackBerry WebWorks application on PlayBook OS 2.0.
Quite simply though, if you have to ask the question you're not a developer.
