Vaporware is 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. Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... Hardware is the general term that is used to describe physical artifacts of a technology. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Software development process. ... Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a software product. ...

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. Contrasting to today's computing environment where 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. A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ...

Examples include Clonaid, the Raelian company which promised proof of human cloning, or 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 or cannot be produced. Clonaid is the alias for a self-described human cloning company associated with the Raëlian Movement which sees cloning as part of the path to immortality. ... Raels first published book, the basis of the Raelian movement Raëlism is the belief system promoted by the Raëlian Movement, a religious organization which believes that scientifically advanced extraterrestrials known as the Elohim (derived from a Hebrew word appearing in the Torah) created life on Earth through... Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of an existing, or previously existing, human being or clone tissue from that individual. ... This article or section should include material from Parallel Path See also Perpetuum mobile as a musical term Perpetual motion machines (the Latin term perpetuum mobile is not uncommon) are a class of hypothetical machines which would produce useful energy in a way science cannot explain (yet). ...

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. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

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. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a sales or marketing strategy of disseminating negative (and vague) information on a competitors product. ... Technological hype is sensational promotion of technology. ...

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) The night singer of shares sold stock on the streets during the South Sea Bubble. ...

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] Northwestern University is a prestigious private, coeducational, non-sectarian research university, located in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois. ... The Engineering Faculty Boulevard The Smolarz Auditorium Tel Aviv University (TAU, אוניברסיטת תל אביב, אתא) is one of Israels major universities. ... Sather tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ... DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. ... DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

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. It has been suggested that Microsoft Rave be merged into this article or section. ... Windows Vista is the latest release of Microsoft Windows, a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...

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. The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... FullWrite Professional, box cover from the 1. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (born July 30, 1940), is a British entrepreneur and inventor of, among other things, the worlds first pocket calculator, in 1962 and the beloved ZX Spectrum computer in 1982. ... Sinclair Research Ltd was a home computer company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England. ... The Sinclair QL (for Quantum Leap), was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as the successor to the ZX Spectrum. ... Sinclair C5 Launched in Britain on 10 January 1985, the Sinclair C5 was a three-wheeled personal transport battery electric vehicle invented by Sir Clive Sinclair. ... Loki was the codename for a Super Spectrum computer developed by Sinclair Research. ...

Several years before CD-R was introduced, Tandy Corporation had promised a fully recordable CD format called Thor,^[2] but after being pushed back for several years, it was finally shelved due to technical limitations, and then became known as "Vapordisc". This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Tandy Corporation is the former name of the parent company of RadioShack Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas-based company best known for its RadioShack electronics stores. ...

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

Falls short of expectations

Often vaporware that does materialize fails to live up to expectations. id Software's computer game, Quake delivered but a fraction of what was touted, and in particular the single-player aspect of the game delivered much less than announced.^{[citation needed]} Another example 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. Another definitive example is the computer game Fable, which claimed it would practically be a life simulation game. id Software (IPA: officially, though originally ) is an American computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. ... Zombies attacking the player. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fable is a video game for Xbox. ...

Ultima IX, another example, was poor consolation for those who had waited since 1994, only to find the version released late in 1999 was very buggy and impossible to run on many common graphics cards. Ultima IX: Ascension (1999) is the ninth and final part of the computer role-playing game series Ultima. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

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.) Project Xanadu was founded by Ted Nelson in 1960 as the original hypertext project. ... In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which, according to an early definition (Nelson 1970), branch or perform on request. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the Internet. ... The GNU Hurd (usually referred to as the Hurd) is a computer operating system kernel. ... This article is about free software as defined by the sociopolitical free software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system family. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ...

Lack of focus

Main article: 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."^[3] 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. // Development of Windows Vista occured over the span of five and a half years, starting in earnest in May 2001,[1] prior to the release of Microsofts Windows XP operating system, and continuing into 2006. ... Microsoft is one of few companies engaging itself in the console wars Where they are up against sony, nintendo, and of course sharps new console which may cause a threat. ... Windows XP is a line of proprietary operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) is a first-person shooter video game being developed by 3D Realms, and is the next game in the Duke Nukem series. ... Windows Vista is the latest release of Microsoft Windows, a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...

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^[4] and topped the list in 2001^[5] and 2002.^[6] 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."^[7] It did not make the list in 2004, but Leander Kahney noted that they had received a lot of nominations for the game.^[3] By popular demand, it topped the list again in 2005.^[8] Currently, Duke Nukem Forever has been announced (once again) to be in full production, still however without a specified release date.^[9] Wired once again awarded Duke Nukem Forever the first place in 2006. It has been suggested that Multiplayer game be merged into this article or section. ... Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) is a first-person shooter video game being developed by 3D Realms, and is the next game in the Duke Nukem series. ... Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter developed by 3D Realms and released on January 29, 1996 by Apogee Software, featuring the adventures of Duke Nukem, based on a character that had appeared in earlier platform games by the company: Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II. // Murderous aliens have... Wired News, online at Wired. ... Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) is a first-person shooter video game being developed by 3D Realms, and is the next game in the Duke Nukem series. ...

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. Indrema was an electronics company infamous for the vaporware Indrema L600 Entertainment System. ... The Phantom Game Console The Phantom was a controversial cancelled video game console that was under development by Phantom Entertainment, formerly Infinium Labs. ...

References

• These Are the Days to Remember, Howard Baldwin, CIO Magazine, December 15, 1999 - article crediting Ester Dyson for the term.
• message by Paul Andrews, where he says Dyson credits Ann Winblad, and that Stewart Alsop.
• David Dranove and Neil Gandal, "The DVD vs. DIVX Standard War: Empirical Evidence of Vaporware," U.C. Berkeley Competition Policy Center Working Paper (2000).

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (362nd in leap years). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ...

See also

• List of cancelled video games
• List of vaporwares
• List of commercial failures in computer and video gaming
• Glossyware
• Development Hell

Compare with: shovelware This is a list of cancelled video games, organized by system. ... This page is an incomplete list of known example of vaporware, in alphabetical order by product name: Action Gamemaster - a handheld device designed by Active Enterprises The Analytical engine - a computer designed by Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace Cairo - an operating system developed by Microsoft Cobalt (pda OS) - The much... As a hit-driven business, the great majority of the computer and video games industrys software releases have been commercial failures. ... A slang term referring to marketing materials produced on high-gloss bond paper. ... // Development hell is media-industry jargon for a film, television screenplay or computer game[1] (or sometimes just a concept or idea) getting stuck in development and never going into production. ... The derogatory computer jargon term shovelware refers to software noted more for the quantity of what is included than for the quality or usefulness. ...

External links

• Where Is Phantom?? - "The site for all Critics, Cynics, Detractors and Doubters", a site about the controversy over Infinium Labs's Phantom
• 30 reasons why vaporware is better than real software Rec.humor posting.
• Optimus-103 will use black and white displays