Vaporware

For the company, see VaporWare (company).

Vaporware is a software or hardware product which is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge, either with or without a protracted development cycle. The term implies unwarranted optimism, or sometimes even deception; that is, it may imply that the announcer knows that product development is in too early a stage to support responsible statements about its completion date, feature set, or even feasibility.

Origins

The term originated with magazine reviewers in the late 1970s/early 80s, originally as a spoof on software marketers' tendency to attach "-ware" to whatever noun described the application of their products.

At that time the personal computer market was in its infancy, and it was common for computer manufacturers to supply the software that ran on them, which would rarely work on other manufacturers' machines. By contrast, in today's computing environment, there are only three major personal computer platforms - Mac, Windows and Linux - and most software is written by independent companies.

Software development would often lag behind the development of the system's computer hardware. As a result, some computer manufacturers advertised extravagant software packages that allegedly came with their machines, but had not yet been completed, or in some cases, hardly begun, in an effort to sell their hardware and encourage further software development.

Hoaxes

There is a similarity between vaporware and a species of hoax: both involve promoting a product or event which cannot later be produced. There have been a number of hoaxes in technological fields, wherein the hoaxer promises that proof of his offering will be forthcoming -- eventually.

Examples include any number of perpetual motion machine "inventors". The distinction may be that in vaporware, the proponent truly does intend to produce the advertised product, while in hoax, he knows the product does not exist, cannot be produced, or that he will not do so.

Types

Anticompetitive practices

In some cases, vaporware may be the result of a trial balloon which "doesn't fly". Subsequently the project is quietly cancelled, sometimes before any actual development work is done.

In other cases, vaporware may be announced by companies in order to damage the development or marketability of more real products by competitors, sometimes in combination with a campaign of fear, uncertainty and doubt; if customers believe the hype, they may put off purchasing the real product to wait for its vaporous rival to mature.

Another illegal use of announcing vaporware is to cause an uptick in the stock prices of a publicly traded company. This can then be used to gain more investment capital or allow officers of the company to sell shares on the "hype" of the software that may or may not ever be completed. (see pump and dump).

Allegations of anticompetitive vaporware, as well as concerns within the software industry prompted David Dranove (of Northwestern University) and Neil Gandal (of Tel Aviv University, University of California, Berkeley) to conduct an empirical study designed to measure the effect of the DIVX preannouncement on the DVD market. This study suggests that the DIVX preannouncement slowed down the adoption of DVD technology. According to Dranove and Gandal, the study suggests that the "general antitrust concern about vaporware seems justified."^[1]

Overambitious hype

Many companies announce vaporware in order to prove that their R&D departments are still full of new ideas. The more ambitious the project, the better. One subtle variation of this strategy is to vaporise one particular much-touted feature of a forthcoming product. For example, the WinFS feature of Windows Vista generated a lot of enthusiasm, but did not make it into the initial release.

Sometimes vaporware is the result of over-optimism on the part of a well-intending organization, and may actually materialize after a long waiting time (sometimes years). One example of this was the long-delayed Apple Macintosh word processor FullWrite Professional, announced by Ann Arbor Softworks in January 1987 for delivery that April, and actually delivered in late 1988.

In the United Kingdom, Sir Clive Sinclair's Sinclair Research Ltd was quite notorious for its tardy product delivery cycle; various flat-screen displays, miniature televisions, the Sinclair QL business computer and Sinclair C5 electric car, the advanced Loki and several other projects were either late, unfinished, or entirely fictitious.

Several years before CD-R was introduced, Tandy Corporation had promised a fully recordable CD format called Thor-CD,^[2] but after being pushed back for several years, it was finally shelved due to technical limitations, and then became known as "Vapordisc".

Sometimes the delays or eventual shelving of a software product may be caused by a corporate merger or internal strife within the company.

Peter Molyneux earned the dubious reputation of promoting games with lofty goals, such as Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, Fable, and The Movies, but often ended up having to remove copious amounts of features due to release date pressure or system limitations.

Falls short of expectations

The biggest example of this is the computer game Daikatana, which was announced in 1997 but did not ship until 2000. Many who had waited felt the gameplay was disappointing. Ultima IX was released to savage reviews in 1999, due to numerous bugs, unbalanced gameplay and high system requirements.

Obsolete on delivery

In other cases, vaporware never materializes because some other product fills its niche in the meantime, rendering it redundant or unmarketable.

One example is Project Xanadu, a hypertext project started in 1960 whose intended role has been mostly filled by the World Wide Web; or the GNU Hurd, the free software kernel whose place in the free software world has been (by and large) filled by Linux. (The Hurd may yet be completed, but its original intended role as part of a complete GPL Unix system has been fulfilled. A possible new role for the Hurd is the kernel of the complete GPLv3 Unix system.)

Lack of focus

Further information: Development of Windows Vista

Microsoft's Longhorn OS was first discussed in 2001 as a minor update to Windows XP, and intended to be released in 2004, but multiple successive delays and changes in strategy led some to call it "Longwait". Longhorn garnered third place in Wired's Vaporware Awards in 2004, and was placed 4th in 2005. Wired quoted a reader as saying, "If Microsoft keeps on pushing back the dates for Longhorn and removing features from it, they might as well just promise to bundle Duke Nukem Forever with the OS."^[2] The Longhorn project was eventually named Windows Vista. Microsoft released business versions of the OS at the end of November 2006, while home-use versions were delayed until January 30, 2007.

Vaporware Awards

In addition to historical examples, there are many products whose ultimate fate is unknown, and are considered vaporware.

One such example is the computer game Duke Nukem Forever, which has been in development for over ten years, announced shortly after the success of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996 and with an original projected release date of 1998. The game has since won Wired News' Vaporware Awards numerous times. It placed in second in 2000<ref name"whenever">Kahney, Leander. "Vaporware 2000: Missing Inaction". December 27, 2000. Wired News. and topped the list in 2001^[3] and 2002.^[4] Wired News created the Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award exclusively for Forever and awarded it in 2003. George Broussard accepted the award, simply stating, "We're undeniably late and we know it."^[5] It did not make the list in 2004, but Leander Kahney noted that they had received a lot of nominations for the game.^[2] By popular demand, it topped the list again in 2005.^[7] Currently, Duke Nukem Forever has been announced (once again) to be in full production, still however without a specified release date.^[8] Wired once again awarded Duke Nukem Forever the first place in 2006.

Also worth noting are the Indrema and Phantom video game consoles. The latter took Wired's top "award" in 2004, and second in 2005. It was finally dropped by its developer in August 2006.

Another classic example of vaporware is Turbo Pascal for the Amiga computer which was announced when Borland placed a full page advertisement in the Fall 1985 premier edition of AmigaWorld magazine. It never shipped and was quietly dropped a few years later. Though it never formally received an award, it was periodically mentioned over the decade that followed in various computer-related magazines due to the notoriety of Borland and the splash that the full page ad created for the then just-released Amiga 1000.

Redemptive software

On occasion, some software titles that were initially classified as "vaporware" redeem themselves after long waiting periods. Games that had an unusually long development period filled with delays and restarts include Half-Life^[9] and Prey^[10], which received chiefly positive reviews. Blizzard Entertainment is a company well known for delaying its games' release date or even cancelling games outright, but has a trusting fanbase, who believe that said setbacks will (and do) result in marked improvements in graphics and gameplay. Another prime example of a redemptive vaporware could be Team Fortress 2, which received glowing hands-on previews^[11]^[12]^[13], and it was finally released on Oct.10, 2007 (playable since Sept.21 as an open beta for people who preordered "The Orange Box" pack).

References

1. ^ Dranove, David; Neil Gandal (November 1 2000). "The DVD vs. DIVX Standard War: Empirical Evidence of Vaporware". Competition Policy Center. Paper CPC01-016.
2. ^ Fasoldt, Al (1988). Why Tandy's recordable CD is a breakthrough even if it never makes it to the market. Retrieved on 2006-03-06.
3. ^ Manjoo, Farhad. "Vaporware 2001: Empty Promises". January 7, 2002. Wired News.
4. ^ Kahney, Leander. "Vaporware 2002: Tech Up in Smoke?". January 3, 2003. Wired News
5. ^ Vaporware Team Null. "Vaporware: Nuke 'Em if Ya Got 'Em". Wired News. January 20, 2004.
6. ^ Kahney, Leander. "Vaporware Phantom Haunts Us All". January 7, 2005. Wired News.
7. ^ Kahney, Leander. "Vaporware: Better Late Than Never". Wired News. February 6, 2006.
8. ^ Duke Nukem Forever Dated (2006). Retrieved on 2006-03-06.
9. ^ [1] Metacritic score 96
10. ^ [2] Metacritic score 83
11. ^ [3] IGN.com
12. ^ [4] GameSpy.com
13. ^ [5] Game Informer

External links

Wired Magazine Vaporware Awards

Other

Community Memory postings on the term's origins crediting Ann Winblad and Stewart Alsop.

• • [ e] Forms of software distribution
Adware Beerware Careware Crippleware Demoware Donationware Donateware Foistware Freely redistributable software Free software Freeware Greenware Nagware Open source Otherware Postcardware Proprietary software Ransomware Registerware Shareware

Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. ^[1]
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Hardware is a general term that refers to the physical artifacts of a technology.It may also mean the physical components of a computer system.

Hardware historically meant the metal parts and fittings that were used to make wooden products stronger, more functional, longer
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A software development process is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Synonyms include software life cycle and software process. There are several models for such processes, each describing approaches to a variety of tasks or activities that
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Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a software product.^[1]^[2] Software development is sometimes understood to encompass the processes of software engineering combined with the research and goals of software marketing
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hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. There is often some material object (e.g., snake oil) involved which is actually a forgery; however, it is possible to perpetrate a hoax by making only true statements using unfamiliar wording or
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perpetual motion, taken literally, refers to movement that goes on forever. This is possible in the current theoretical understanding of physics as in Newton's First Law of Motion.
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A trial balloon is information sent out in order to observe the reaction of an audience. It can be used by companies sending out press releases to judge reaction by customers, or it can be used by politicians who deliberately leak information on a policy change under consideration.
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Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a tactic of rhetoric used in sales, marketing and public relations.^[1]^[2] FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative (and vague) information.
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A hype cycle is a graphic representation of the maturity, adoption and business application of specific technologies. The term was coined by Gartner, an analyst/research house, based in the United States, that provides opinions, advice and data on the global information technology
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Microcap stock fraud, also known as penny stock fraud, is a form of securities fraud involving stocks of "microcap" companies, generally defined as having a market capitalization of under $250 million.
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Northwestern University (NU) is a selective private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university with campuses located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois.
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Tel Aviv University (TAU, אוניברסיטת תל־אביב, את"א) is Israel's largest on-site university.
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University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal
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DivX are a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. (formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.
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DVD

Media type: Optical disc
Capacity: 4.7 GB (single layer), 8.5 GB (dual layer)
Usage: Data storage, audio, video, games

Optical disc authoring

Optical disc
Optical disc image
Recorder hardware
Authoring software

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Not to be confused with WinFX.

WinFS (short for Windows Future Storage)^[1] is the code name for a data storage and management system based on relational databases, developed by Microsoft and first demonstrated in 2003 as an
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Windows Vista
(Part of the Microsoft Windows family)
Screenshot

Screenshot of Windows Vista Ultimate
Developer
Microsoft
Web site: Windows Vista: Homepage
Release information
Release date:
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Macintosh, commonly known as Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. Named after the McIntosh variety of apple, the original Macintosh was released on January 24, 1984.
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FullWrite Professional was a word processor application for the Apple Macintosh, released in late 1988 by Ashton-Tate. Though it was released a year later than promised and had a number of problems, it developed a faithful following and some amount of commercial success.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
1984 1985 1986 - 1987 - 1988 1989 1990

Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
1985 1986 1987 - 1988 - 1989 1990 1991

Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" ^[2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" ^[3]
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Clive Marles Sinclair (born July 30, 1940) is a well-known British entrepreneur and inventor of the world's first 'slim-line' electronic pocket calculator in 1972 (Sinclair Executive) and the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, amongst many other
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Sinclair Research Ltd

Limited company
Founded Cambridge, England (1961)
Headquarters London, England

Key people Sir Clive Sinclair, Founder
Nigel Searle, Director (1973 to 1986)
Jim Westwood
Rick Dickinson, Designer

Industry Computing
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Type Personal computer
Released 1984
Discontinued April, 1986
Processor Motorola 68008 @ 7.5 MHz
Memory 128 KB (640 KB max.)
OS Sinclair QDOS The Sinclair QL (for Quantum Leap
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The Sinclair C5 was a battery electric vehicle invented by Sir Clive Sinclair and launched in the United Kingdom on 10 January 1985. The C5 took the form of a battery-assisted tricycle steered by handles on either side of the driver seat.
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Type Home computer
Released Never
Discontinued
Processor Z80 @ 7 MHz and equivalent
Memory 128 KB
OS SuperBASIC variant

Loki
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CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once, Read Many optical medium (though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session) and retains a high level of
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Tandy Corporation was a family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, which is best known for purchasing and giving its name to the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based RadioShack Corporation.
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Thor-CD was a recordable CD format proposed in 1988 by Tandy (parent company of Radio Shack), that was never released in commercial version.

At the time Tandy proposed the new format, CDs were mostly used for music, not for storing digital data.
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