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Nominations for 2003 Vaporware Awards

spin2cool writes "Wired News is now accepting submissions for its fifth annual Vaporware Awards. These awards "celebrate all those eagerly anticipated gizmos that were put off, put away or quietly put down. And, of course, those that existed merely as a figment of someone's imagination."

23 of 745 comments (clear)

  1. GNU/HURD by iamdrscience · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Biggest piece of vaporware of all time. However, I'll still put some faith in it on the slim chance that it really has needed and benefitted from being in development for ~20 years. Seriously though, can you think of any other piece of software that's been in development that long and is still largely incomplete?

    1. Re:GNU/HURD by purdue_thor · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I second this one! This is a clip from the initial Linux announcement on Usenet by Linus Torvalds back in 1991:

      I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be
      out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
      minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed doing
      it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
      their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and
      modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.


      See what a visionary he was? He knew back in 1991 that GNU/HURD would be the greatest piece of vaporware.

  2. Doom 3? by anethema · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How far back has the release date for doom 3 slipped? "When its done" seems to have become "When you're all too old to care". I really hope this doesnt become another DNF.

    --


    It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
    1. Re:Doom 3? by sheetsda · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The rumor (well, I don't know if its rumor, I fairly sure John Carmack himself said it) is that Microsoft offered id a truckload of money to sit on Doom3 until an XBox port was done.

    2. Re:Doom 3? by *weasel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      one might wonder if id's unspoken business plan is to let Carmack create the greatest engine possible, and then just polish the art until consumers have rigs fast enough to run it.

      I remember quake 3 going through a similar statis period of about a year between playable and release. and quake3 didn't even have a 'single player game experience'.

      but if doom3 had already been released, all you'd hear is moaning about how high the system requirements are. what good would it do them to burn out their product inertia because no-one can play it?

      i'd also guess carmack's time is much more profitably spent adding flexibility to the new engine to increase its appeal to licensees; and supporting the q3 engine licensees, than trying to optimize doom3 until they do release.

      There is simply a wall at which the game won't run well enough on enough machines to warrant a release. And it's right next to the wall at which the time spent optimizing the engine results in less performance gain than the upgrade rate of the gaming market.

      --
      // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
  3. Re:Windows Longhorn by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doesn't this date push get MS into a lot of legal and PR hotwater? After all, one of the selling points of SA6 was that you could get upgrades every 2 years at a reduced price. If they push it back to 2006, they will dramatically miss their deadline according to the terms of the deal. I'm sure MS wrote enough escape clauses in the agreement to cover their butts so they won't have to fork over any money, but it won't make any of their customers happy. Some of them might start registering complaints to the FTC.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  4. Windows NT the winner in 1991? by chrysrobyn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anybody else remember the day when NT stood for "Not There" instead of "New Technology?

  5. SHOULDN'T VAPORWARE BE ILLEGAL...? by Big+Troller · · Score: 0, Interesting

    If a company uses vaporware with the intent to hurt another companies sales of a software product or any other product. In my oppion that should be illegal.. A company shouln't be allowed to say they product unless that have something... Isn't that false advertising in a way....? Just seems like a big loop hole that should fixed to prevent companies from stifling their competition

  6. Latex3 by poszi · · Score: 4, Interesting
    IIRC this project started 10 years ago project page> .

    Maybe the reason it has not materialized yet is that Latex2e works just fine.

    --

    Save the bandwidth. Don't use sigs!

  7. Wired list from 2000 by image · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Out of curiosity I reviewed Wired's list from 2000 to see what came of the products that were mere vapor three years ago.
    • Tribes 2 -- released, and rather successful, a good game overall
    • Wireless Web Pads -- tablet PC's are now commerically available
    • Bluetooth -- now shipping in just about everything from cell phones to headsets to laptops
    • Silicon Film's Electronic Film System -- not sure about this particular case, but there are digital film backs available for 35mm cameras, I believe
    • Warcraft III -- released and went on to become a hugely popular game on Blizzards battle.net, has an expansion or two as well
    • Intel's Itanium chips -- shipping and people are deploying them in real-world, large-scale installations
    • A New Linux kernel -- they were talking about 2.4, and 2.6 is now just around the corner
    • Black and White -- shipped. and while a bit overrated, a decent game
    • Duke Nukem Forever -- ha.
    • Mac OS X -- now at version 10.3.1, it is perhaps the best desktop operating system ever built

    So, after three years, only one of the top 10 vaporware products from 2000 failed to materialize. In fact, most of them went on to become successes as well.

    1. Re:Wired list from 2000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Silicon Film's Electronic Film System is still vapourware. Leica is working on a interchangeable film/digital back though. I believe it will be out before Silicon Film's.

  8. Binary drivers, Linux vs. Hurd by dido · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ironically, the GNU/HURD may well be more friendly to proprietary software and drivers than Linux ever will be! Being a microkernel OS, drivers would have a far cleaner separation from the GPLed HURD kernel than the current loadable module system in Linux does. Though I wouldn't bet on it, we may actually get a stable, usable Hurd kernel before Linux fixes the binary modules issue that was the topic of a recent story. At least the Hurd team IS moving towards making a stable release, but it does not seem to be a high priority at the moment in Linux dev to make even something like the Windows DDK for kernel modules.

    --
    Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.
    1. Re:Binary drivers, Linux vs. Hurd by DrXym · · Score: 3, Interesting
      If all things were equal then perhaps. But Hurd has been bogged down in politics, lack of direction, lack of support, lack of volunteers, instability intransigence, purity over pragmatism etc. for the last decade.


      Hence the reason that it is all but forgotten while Linux is busy taking over the world. Considering that Hurd was started before Linux, this is a pretty sad indictment.

  9. Hope is alive by LeoDV · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you look at the Vaporware Awards of 2001, the #2 item on the list is Warcraft III, which did indeed make it to the shelves, to critical acclaim and record sales... Could 2003's vaporware be 2004's hit product? Let's hope so.

    Unless we're talking about the infringing SCO code. ;)

  10. Re:(Insert DNF joke here) by artemis67 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's entirely possible that DNF does not even exist as a real project at 3D Realms anymore. Consider that the vaporware state of the game generates a tremendous amount of buzz for the DN brand and for the company. Consider also the grandious vision that is always laid out for the game.

    Now, why would 3D Realms go and kill all of this excitement and attention by trying to release a game that could never live up to the hype? It would be very anti-climactic and could even kill the franchise. They certainly don't want to release the next Daikatana.

    Also, investors generally don't have bottomless pockets filled with cash. How long can they pour money into a game development team before they start demanding results? Two years? Three years? Five years?

    In the meantime, 3D Realms has released a slew of other DN games, when they should have been working on DNF. Though it may have been a priority at one time, DNF is obviously not a priority right now. Or maybe what started out as DNF was cleverly reworked and released under another title, thinking that it wouldn't live up to the hype (DN: Manhattan Project? Max Payne?).

    Here's my prediction: 3D Realms will continue to be evasive on the subject, and will continue to release DN games... and when one comes along that they feel is worthy of the honor, they will rechristen it as Duke Nukem Forever. But only after they've almost completely exhausted the hype surrounding DNF.

  11. Consumer electronics by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know if anyone actually promised these but:

    OLED TVs
    HD Tivo
    Widespread HD adoption

    The latter is *almost* here, in that I can get Discovery, a couple of the locals, HBO and Showtime in HD on my local cable system, but I wouldn't call a whopping 6-7 channels and a manditory paid installation a symptom of "widespread adoption".

  12. Re:Bitboys by Simon+Lyngshede · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They actually have started selling Glaze3D, although I think they call it Axe or something. It is powerful enough to go into mobilephone :-)

  13. Re:WMD detector by Doomdark · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Sure, hiding a vial of almost anything, or canister of something else is easy. But for weapon-grade stuff, that's not the way it can be done. You don't fire vials with missiles or howitzers, nor do you get much results with small amounts of nerve gas. Plus, even evil crooked scientists and military lunatics prefer not to get harmed by the dangerous stuff, so packaging generally adds lots of overhead on otherwise potentially small volume.

    I mean, although I know that "even if I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't after me" is sometimes valid counter argument, is it so hard to believe that perhaps Saddam eventually thought that WMDs were NOT worth all the hassle? (after losing to Iran, getting chastised, eventually, for killing kurds with mustard gas, getting kicked out of Kuwait by coalition etc. etc.)

    Have people just been so well indoctrinated with scare d'jour; after red scare it's all these pesky terrorists and dictators taken out of b-class Hollywood movies, lumped together, every one of them being wild-eyed raving lunatics whose main mission is to destroy the earth along with western way of life. From that perspective it may be unthinkable that perhaps bloody dictators too can occasionally use their judgment, do some cost/benefit analysis of their own.

    --
    I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
  14. Windows NT claim in 1992 by saha · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Windows NT "With its Posix standard compliance, Gates claims NT will be as compatible with the leading versions of Unix as they are with each other.....He also said that Microsoft may offer limited voice-recognition for Windows this year". Byte: Nanobytes column March 1992 page 26.

    In the meantime Gartner: Longhorn Delays Will Affect WindowsThe IT advisory firm expects the operating system to be released between late 2006 and mid-2008, but that the release could be delayed even more.

    My suggestion. Get OSX Panther today and stop dreaming about tomorrow.

  15. Re:(Insert DNF joke here) by Polyphemis · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Finally, someone that has their facts straight and isn't talking out of their ass!

    Two minor corrections, the total amount earned from Max Payne was $40 million, but that was divided between 3DR and Remedy and I'm not sure which way it was split so you could well be right on 3DR's part. Also, I'm almost positive that Shadow Warrior was developed by an outside company and published under 3DR's name.

    To the parent's parent: Yes, 3DR still is working on DNF, my best friend works has worked there for two years and I got to see part of the game at one point. And yes, it is taking a damned long time, and it's really anybody's guess as to why it's taking such a long time. However, that's not a license to make shit up and claim to know something you don't because there's nothing in your post that even approaches fact.

    I realize my claim to have actually seen the game has no immediately verifiable basis here, so let's approach it from a different angle and look at the logic: Which of these two scenarios is more likely to exist: 1) A game company that employs 20+ people to sit around and play games all day for seven years, or 2) A company working on a game that's taking an absurd amount of time due to some manner of internal problems (be it high turnover, multiple engine switches, mismanagement, who can say*)?

    Sure, the former idea is juicy and amusing to think about and earn mod points from, but that kind of shit simply doesn't happen. How could anyone in their right mind believe something that childish? Remember, Half-Life 2 was complete vaporware until a few short months ago.

    * - I'd like to note that I'm not saying any of these necessarily exists (except the multiple engine switches which is publicly known), I'm just naming common problems game companies in general have.

  16. Barbie Linux, Fact or Fiction? by mykepredko · · Score: 3, Interesting
  17. Re:Iraqi WMDs! by superyooser · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Other vaporware related to Iraq (courtesy of the Left Wing):
    • Coalition forces attacked with Saddam's WMD (well of course, there weren't WMD, right?)
    • thousands of U.S. troops killed
    • refugee crisis
    • ecological disaster
    • seizure of Iraqi oil
    • destruction of Islamic "holy" sites by Americans
    • destruction of historical artifacts by Americans
    • terrorist attacks in America after invasion
    Here is the non-vaporware in Iraq.
  18. Re:WMD detector by mikerich · · Score: 2, Interesting
    actually, if you would take a few minutes to look at david kay's report, you'd see that he had extensive programs in development.

    Which one of David Kay's reports? Kay's most recent report conceded that there were NO production plants manufacturing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Some work had been done in the lab on bacteria, but they had not been weaponised.

    Kay's belief on Iraq trying to manufacture centrifuges to make enriched uranium is not supported by the IAEA or the American Department of Energy.

    whether he actually had them or not, and that was never in dispute among any intel agency, even the french, russians, and germans, what we DO KNOW, is that he did have them, did use them, did have extensive programs,

    All of which were destroyed by the UN after the first Gulf War. Even the supposed 10 000 litres of anthrax is nothing more than the maximum amount of liquid growth medium that could have been created from the missing stocks - all of which would have expired now.

    The only thing that brought those inspections to an end was that the very same David Kay had allowed his inspection teams to become covers for British and American intelligence. The Iraqis objected to spies wondering around their country under UN cover (and can you name another country that refused to allow intrusive inspections? Here's a clue)

    Kay's spent much of the last few years saying what a great idea it would be to attack Iraq (here and here and here and here and here and here) to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. So if they aren't found, it's David Kay who is going to look stupid. He's already had to do some serious back-pedalling on the nuclear programme, centrifuges, those trucks that were supposedly mobile labs

    The BBC's 'Panorama' got some good quotes out of Kay. I recommend a read of the transcript.

    But why blame David Kay, here is an assessment of Saddam Hussein's capabilities straight from the top:

    'He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction, he is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours.'
    Colin Powell. (24th February 2001)

    Best wishes,
    Mike.