Posted by
timothy
on from the cd-r-handheld-ogg-player dept.
ThatKidYouDid writes "Wired.com is holding a vote for this years best
vaporware. My vote definitely goes to the oqo, although I'd still snag one if they ever materialized. What do others really wish could have happened by Xmas?"
While not 2002's.... UO 2...
by
TibbonZero
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I would have really liked to see UO ship, or at least release the source... instead of basically firing everyone and burning most of the work for no good reason..
If there is a piece of vaporware to rule them all it is Team Fortress 2. Check out the website http://tf2.sierra.com. The last time the news on the site was updated was Jan 23, 2001!!! The game has been in the works since 1998!! According to all the official websites TF2 is still in developement/coming soon. Neither Sierra nor Valve has reported that the game is dead. Some version of the game was even demo'd once or twice, which means it was SOMETHING.
TF2, king of vaporware.
-- The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
I actually did some sound effects work for this back when it was originally slated to be a Quake 2 mod by the TF team (before they all joined on with Valve). You can actually still download the MP3 of the sounds all put together, made to sound like one huge battle.
Once they got bought out by Valve, I got paid for the work I did and that was the last I saw/heard about the game really. Looking back at it now though, I hope they really don't use my old sounds, as they're quite dated and admitedly amateur.
At one point, while I was working on the last version of TF released for QuakeWorld (remember that?), Robin of TF had me take a look at a first run of TF2 for Quake2. I actually think I have that still laying around here on an old CD somewhere.
Remember Zeosync made that huge fuss claiming 100:1 compression on random data?
Many news agencies like Reuters ran with it and as usual Shanon proved them wrong (try www.zeosync.com hehe)
If only they had read the newsgroup compression FAQ they would have saved time and all that investor money (they had over $10 million at one point I believe).
Anyhow I thought that was the best vaporware... if only it could have been true;(
Silicon Film Technologies should be on there, hands down. They won in 2000 or so. You'd think after two more years they'd find a way to make this work.
It's vapor, but it could be the road to digital for people with high-quality 35mm SLR cameras. Everyone wants to go digital for the convenience, the instant feedback on the shot, the uh, privacy of not going through a photo lab, etc. There must be over a million people with SLR's of higher optical quality than most of today's point-and-shoot digitals.
In fact, I can't imagine why this hasn't flown. I don't think anyone else has beaten them to the punch, and it seems technically feasible. Maybe they can't get the sensor thin enough to close the camera back?
The .Net "Revolution"
by
Drakker
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Yes,.Net is coming! Is it a revolution? Not at all, we're going back to the good old mainframes.
Beside, 99% of their architecture isnt even ready.
Re:Next TAOCP volume from Knuth?
by
bedessen
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Knuth is a guy who likes to plan ahead. On his web site he states that Volume 4 (of The Art Of Computer Programming) will be ready in 2007, and Vol. 5 will be published in 2009. He then goes on to describe how he plans to rewrite Vols. 1-3 after he finishes 5. Finally after that, "God willing" he says, he plans to write Vol. 6 (context-free languages) and Vol. 7 (Compiler Techniques.) We're talking probably 10-20 years into the future here, certainly what I'd call long-term planning.
I wonder how well the geek-virgin stereotype holds up to the myth, or if it just gets thrown around because we like to poke fun at ourselves. I'd like to see this slashdot poll:
Are you a virgin?
Yes
No
I'm keeping my virginty for Cowboy Neal you insensitve cold!
Linux stampede, MS death
by
NineNine
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I nominate the stampede of users rushing away from Windows to some flavor of Linux. Every other article here is something like, "Company x is installing Linux on xxx,xxx boxes!! Linux is winning! So, how much longer do you think Microsoft will be around?" Yet somehow, this hasn't even begun to happen.
Slashdot Mirror
I would have really liked to see UO ship, or at least release the source... instead of basically firing everyone and burning most of the work for no good reason..
Tibbon
tibbon.com
If there is a piece of vaporware to rule them all it is Team Fortress 2. Check out the website http://tf2.sierra.com. The last time the news on the site was updated was Jan 23, 2001!!! The game has been in the works since 1998!! According to all the official websites TF2 is still in developement/coming soon. Neither Sierra nor Valve has reported that the game is dead. Some version of the game was even demo'd once or twice, which means it was SOMETHING.
TF2, king of vaporware.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Remember Zeosync made that huge fuss claiming 100:1 compression on random data?
;(
Many news agencies like Reuters ran with it and as usual Shanon proved them wrong (try www.zeosync.com hehe)
If only they had read the newsgroup compression FAQ they would have saved time and all that investor money (they had over $10 million at one point I believe).
Anyhow I thought that was the best vaporware... if only it could have been true
Neverwinter Nights for Linux is technically vaporware, as it has yet to be released, and isn't going to be released before January 10.
Silicon Film Technologies should be on there, hands down. They won in 2000 or so. You'd think after two more years they'd find a way to make this work.
It's vapor, but it could be the road to digital for people with high-quality 35mm SLR cameras. Everyone wants to go digital for the convenience, the instant feedback on the shot, the uh, privacy of not going through a photo lab, etc. There must be over a million people with SLR's of higher optical quality than most of today's point-and-shoot digitals.
In fact, I can't imagine why this hasn't flown. I don't think anyone else has beaten them to the punch, and it seems technically feasible. Maybe they can't get the sensor thin enough to close the camera back?
Yes, .Net is coming! Is it a revolution? Not at all, we're going back to the good old mainframes.
Beside, 99% of their architecture isnt even ready.
Knuth is a guy who likes to plan ahead. On his web site he states that Volume 4 (of The Art Of Computer Programming) will be ready in 2007, and Vol. 5 will be published in 2009. He then goes on to describe how he plans to rewrite Vols. 1-3 after he finishes 5. Finally after that, "God willing" he says, he plans to write Vol. 6 (context-free languages) and Vol. 7 (Compiler Techniques.) We're talking probably 10-20 years into the future here, certainly what I'd call long-term planning.
Are you a virgin?
I nominate the stampede of users rushing away from Windows to some flavor of Linux. Every other article here is something like, "Company x is installing Linux on xxx,xxx boxes!! Linux is winning! So, how much longer do you think Microsoft will be around?" Yet somehow, this hasn't even begun to happen.