vaporware

See also: Software

A computer-related term. Vaporware is a product (e.g. software) which will never be released. Moreover, it is actually the believe it won't be released whereas people are or were looking forward to the release.

Note how sometimes vaporware is still released but far beyond the release schedule. In such case, the term vaporware was incorrectly attributed.

Often, there is a lot of marketing fuss happening around the product, or it happened, but for some reason the software will never been released. Reasons for this include:

• Legal issues.
• Lack of development.
• Used to market another or multiple other products.
• Drawing attention for other imaginable reasons.

Indications of vaporware:

• No in-depth information available.
• Hype-related elements such as screenshots or awesome features are published.
• No public alpha or beta available or no demonstrations of the software.

Examples of vaporware:

• Duke Nuken Forever (game).
• Microsoft Longhorn (OS).
• AmigaOS4 (OS).
• Half Life 2 (game).
• "Fantastic Windows emulation for Linux" from the Philipines. The screenshot indicated it was just WINE running (application).

This article is based on a public domain infoAnarchy article: Vaporware

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