I don't think they'll go into open beta, but beta keys are quite plentiful with friend invites/pre orders. The game is a little bit easier due to auto mining and smart cast. It's a good game but in it's current state it cannot compete with BW.
or instead of getting a beta key, get a cracked version of the game and get maps of AI if u wanna see if its good or not
just gotten an invitation.. played it, but not really intresting imo.. but on the other hand.. im not really an RTSer