List of vaporware
Vaporware is a product which is never released but never cancelled. The term "vaporware" can also refer to products that are released far behind schedule, or heavily-promoted products that do not actually exist. This list documents products which have been labelled as "vaporware".
Hardware
- Phantom was a console gaming system developed by Infinium Labs. A prototype was demonstrated in 2004, but its release was continually delayed and the company never announced that the product was cancelled. The company was accused of a pump and dump scam. It received the first place in "Vaporwares 2004" in Wired News.[1]
- Lockitron was a device to allow a door deadbolt to be remotely controlled via Bluetooth or over the Internet. After a successful crowdfunding effort that raised over $1.5 million worth of pre-orders, Apigy has (as of February 2014) failed to deliver a product in substantial numbers.[2]
Software
- Ovation was a highly promoted office suite. After demonstrations that were well received, it was later revealed that the product never existed. It is "widely considered the mother of all vaporware," according to Laurie Flynn of The New York Times.[3]
- Xenix is a discontinued version of the Unix operating system for various microcomputer platforms, licensed by Microsoft from AT&T Corporation in the late 1970s. The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) later acquired exclusive rights to the software, and eventually superseded it with SCO UNIX (now known as SCO OpenServer). After the breakup of the Bell System AT&T started selling Unix. Microsoft, believing that it could not compete with Unix's developer, decided to abandon Xenix. The decision was not immediately transparent, and so Xenix gave birth to the term vaporware.[4] An agreement was signed with IBM to develop OS/2, and the Xenix team (together with the best MS DOS developers) was assigned to that project. In 1987 Microsoft transferred ownership of Xenix to SCO in an agreement that left Microsoft owning 25% of SCO. When Microsoft eventually lost interest in OS/2 as well, it based its further high-end strategy on Windows NT.
Video games
- Half-Life 2: Episode Three.[5] - The trilogy of episodes following Half-Life 2 was intended to be concluded by the end of 2007. Although the first two episodes were released in a relatively timely fashion, the final installment never surfaced. Despite sporadic assurances from the developer Valve that the sequel is in development, there has been no information about the game or when it may see a release. Episode Three has become one of video gaming's most infamous cases of vaporware.
- Commander Keen: The Universe Is Toast! was supposed to be the third trilogy in the series, where the events were left off after the sixth episode, but it never actually had gotten out into the early stages of development, for id Software moved on to Wolfenstein 3D and then Doom. However, the author of the game often has commented that he would automatically make a new game if he ever gains back the intellectual property.[6]
- Descent is a six degrees of freedom, first-person shooter game designed and developed by Parallax Software and published by Interplay Entertainment. The Wii port for the game was announced by Interplay and that it was intended to be released via the WiiWare service for the holiday season of 2010,[7] but, however, no progress has been seen for the past 4 years, and it is now considered "abandoned", yet the company has not officially cancelled the port.
Surfaced vaporware
Products which once were considered to be vaporware which eventually surfaced after a prolonged time:
- 3G[8]
- Bluetooth[9]
- Duke Nukem Forever[9] - Initial game development was announced in April 1997 with a scheduled launch of 1998, however the game experienced many delays and was not released until June 10, 2011, 15 years after initial development. See also Development of Duke Nukem Forever.
- Daikatana[10]
- Windows Vista (then, "Windows Code Name 'Longhorn'")[10]
- Mac OS X, the long-awaited "next generation Mac OS" that finally shipped replacing the announced and later abandoned Copland, Gershwin and Taligent operating system attempts.[11]
- Warcraft III[9][12]
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl – Originally announced in 2001, the game experienced numerous delays.[13] Beta builds of the final product have been distributed to numerous game review sites.[14] On 3 March 2007, THQ announced that the game had gone gold and was released on 20 March 2007, though it was leaked three days earlier.
- Team Fortress 2[10] was announced in 1999 and took 8 years to be released. With a complete change in gameplay and art direction, the North American release took place on 9 October 2007.
- Black Mesa was announced in 2004, and it slowly progressed until 2012, when it was released. This remake was designed so as to become a better alternative for Half-Life: Source since it lacked new features other than the fact that it used the newer, revamped source engine. Due to its long development time, the modification became notable for its delays, and dwindling updates on the status of its completion. The delays led to Wired awarding Black Mesa high spots on their "Vaporware Of The Year" lists in 2009 and 2010.[15][16]
See also
References
- ↑ Kahney, Leander (7 January 2005). "Vaporware Phantom Haunts Us All". Wired News. Archived from the original on 31 January 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
- ↑ Lomas, Natasha (16 January 2014). "Lockitron Still Hasn’t Shipped To Most Backers Over A Year After Its $2.2M Crowdfunding Effort". Tech Crunch.
the keyless smart lock that’s designed to fit over your dumb deadbolt so you can lock and unlock your door with a smartphone remains so much sexy-looking vapourware
- ↑ Flynn, Laurie (24 April 1995). "The Executive Computer". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
- ↑ Flynn, Laurie (24 April 1995). "The Executive Computer". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
- ↑ "Vaporware 2010: The Great White Duke". Wired.com. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
- ↑ {{url=http://www.3drealms.com/keenhistory/|title=A Look Back at Commander Keen|accessdate=October 19, 2014}}
- ↑ Interplay Straps In with Descent for WiiWare
- ↑ Elisa Batista (March 6, 2002). "The Real Reason 3G is Vaporware". Wired. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Vaporware 2000: Missing Inaction". Wired. 2001. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
The bona fide beginning of the new millennium is almost upon us, but some things never change: The tech industry continues to whip up excitement by promising amazing new technologies, only to crush our spirits by delaying, postponing, pushing back or otherwise derailing the arrival of said goods – sometimes indefinitely.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Vaporware '99: The 'Winners'". Wired. 3 January 2000. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
The last year of the last decade before 2000 has come and gone, but the Vaporware 1999 "winners" are still a dream to some, and a nightmare to others.
- ↑ Vaporware: Why Apple Doesn't Blog. Roughlydrafted.com (7 December 2006).
- ↑ "Vaporware 2001: Empty Promises". Wired. 7 January 2002. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
Whatever you like to call it – the New Economy, the Dot-Com Economy, the Clinton Years – one thing is now clear about the period of prosperity that began in the mid-'90s and was snuffed out early last year.
- ↑ Top 10 Tuesday: Modern Vaporware. Pc.ign.com (11 April 2006).
- ↑ First impressions – S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Eurogamer
- ↑ Calore, Michael (December 21, 2009). "Vaporware 2009: Inhale the Fail". Wired (magazine). Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
- ↑ Calore, Michael (January 3, 2011). "Vaporware 2010: The Great White Duke". Wired (magazine) (Condé Nast Publications). Retrieved September 15, 2012.