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Wired's 2004 Vaporware Awards

l3pYr writes "Based on user submissions, Wired Magazine has posted its 2004 Vaporware Awards. Duke Nukem Forever has garnered the 'Lifetime Achievement Award,' so it doesn't - officially - make the list. Some of the lucky winners this year are: Alienware, Valve, Microsoft, Apple and TiVo."

23 of 406 comments (clear)

  1. My favorite piece of vaporware is GNU/HURD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously. Does anybody actually use the beta/alpha version of it for anything? RMS has been promising it for such a long time.. especially after Linux took the GNU team by surprise.

    1. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware is GNU/HURD by andreyw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      An operating system kernel is now "a simple project?" Especially one that breaches new territory in kernel design?

      If HURD gets the vaporware award, then you get the dumbass award.

    2. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware is GNU/HURD by andreyw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And as an afterthought... Have you even ever *tried* writing a kernel?

    3. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware is GNU/HURD by andreyw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      First of all its "Torvalds," and secondly, it wasn't easy in the sense of 'any dumbass can write one.' Plus, a more attractive development model (read: less philosophising about theory... HURD really is more like a research project) and a more practical 'lets get this weird device to work' approach led to the effective relegation of the HURD to the boondocks. It [Linux] really is a simpler and straight-forwarder design too.

      My first incarnation of EKP was a simple monolithic kernel and if I stuck with it I would be already porting GNU CC to it. Alas, my curiosity led me astray down the path of micro- and exo-kernels, so instead I am filling my garbage can with flawed designs.

  2. Apple and IBM should share credit by Logic+Bomb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think it's fair for Apple to be on the list with the 3 Ghz claim, though they should have shared the honor with IBM. After all, Apple was just going off whatever they were told by IBM's R&D folks.

  3. This years winners are.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And this years price for the "Worst Article and Poor journalism" -award goes to... Wired!

    Also special commendation on "How to build a website almost rivaling Geocities in how horrible it looks like" -award goes to Wired!

  4. Kind of sad: Alienware?!? by revery · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apparently your product is now vaporware if it slips a quarter. I think by that definition every computer game I've ever played has at some point been vaporware...

    --
    Was it the sheep climbing onto the altar, or the cattle lowing to be slain,
    or the Son of God hanging dead and bloodied on a cross that told me this was a world condemned, but loved and bought with blood.

  5. Based on user submissions, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    WAAAA! Your promised me I could buy $piece_of_crap by Q4 2004. Its already January 7th of 2005! Oh, the humanity!
    IWANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT! !IWANIT!!IW ANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT!!IWANIT!! /spoiled brat mode

    who cares...

  6. I don't get why Intel and Apple are on the list by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    for not meeting their projected processor speed targets. Granted, they were over-hyped but the real reason they did not meet the targets is because both Intel and IBM ran into a lot of unforseen roadblocks when they went to 90 nm technology. I would hardly call that "vaporware".
    Unlike Duke Nukem Forever, they were both going into uncharted waters, and it's really no surprise that they didn't make it to their destination as fast as they had wanted to....

  7. Re:What is the min delay for vaporware? by ShamusYoung · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As I've always understood it, "Vaporware" refers to products that do not exist, and are thus all "vapor" and hype. Once you show a demo or have a working model that does what you claimed it would do from the outset, it ought not be called Vaporware, even if it has been delayed.

    DNF is a great example, since after a decade we havn't even seen a working demo, a gameplay video, or even any (recent) screenshots. I think labeling products as "vaporware" when they are just late is a bit unfair. Many products miss ship dates and experience delays, but it takes a special kind of bastard to start a marketing campaign before they've even written a line of code or built a prototype.

    --
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  8. Vaporware? by Titusdot+Groan · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Alienware slips by a quarter? Apple and Intel under deliver by a few hundred Mhz?

    They were *really* stretching to get this list to 10 ... I guess things are pretty good in the world of vaporware given the bottom 3.

  9. Is anyone really working on a new duke3d?! by Anita+Coney · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How long does it really take to make a 3d game when you're using someone elses engine?! First, it was supposed to use the Quake 2 engine. Then it switched over to the Unreal engine. It must have switched again because the Unreal engine is ancient by any standard.

    My guess is that the owners of 3D Realms have enough money where they just don't give a rat's ass.

    Does anyone here actually work for 3D Realms?! What's going on over there?!

    --
    If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  10. Re:What is the min delay for vaporware? by phillymjs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As I've always understood it, "Vaporware" refers to products that do not exist, and are thus all "vapor" and hype. Once you show a demo or have a working model that does what you claimed it would do from the outset, it ought not be called Vaporware, even if it has been delayed.

    No. Anybody can fake up working model and/or show a rigged demo. Even an officially-released product is technically vaporware until it ends up in the hands of at least one customer.

    ~Philly

  11. SCO Group's Evidence? by kuwan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What about the SCO Group's evidence that Linux contains Unix source code?

    After nearly two years and Darl McBride's claims of "mountains of code" you'd think they'd have shown something by now.
    --
    It works.
    Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo

  12. Where is SCO? by gosand · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wonder why SCO didn't make the list with its claims of infringing code in Linux.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  13. Re:Company Lifetime Achievement Award by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You'd have to give the award to the users who don't bother to switch, not the OS. I've been using Linux as a desktop for years.

  14. SCO "proof" is the biggest vaporware by Supp0rtLinux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think they missed something very key. The other big (in my opinion... the true #1) is the proof that SCO supposedly has and keeps promising to show the world about the Unix code in Linux. They managed to start lots of lawsuits and even gained a few licensees. However, on numerous occasions they promised to "show the proof", yet they have yet to do so. We're coming up on year three and to date, no one has seen any damning code... not even those that signed the NDA.

  15. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    its funny because you replied like these were somehow "facts". its kind of like if i memorized all the episodes of carebares and then made an analysis - seriously - over a few statements that such and such was true (pink carebares are better than blue) or something.

    I just find it funny that indepth "thinking" about a book that has been translated many times and re written at least twice. I cannot believe that people think it has anything to do with reality at all. i guess its kind of like starwars geeks debating over who shot first. maybe in 2000 years they will wage holly wars about it... the hansades - as it were.

  16. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware by jdavidb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Amazingly, some people enjoy learning about the culture, lifestyles, and thought processes of people different from themselves. Just that not very many people like this are on slashdot.

  17. Re:Intel lower on list than Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Intel came closer to the mark than Apple did, thus Intel's lower ranking.

    It doesn't matter if Apple is reliant on another company. If they can't deliver, then they shouldn't make the promise.

  18. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware by TechnologyX · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Good research, I'm Christian and I never really thought about it like that. It's good to see an actual insightful religious post on Slashdot, as opposed to the usual "Christians are retards LOL"

    --
    Slashdot sucks
  19. Re:My favorite piece of vaporware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just a thought, but technically speaking, wouldn't Christ's 2nd coming be when he rose from the dead three days after he died on the cross?

    /if you believe in that kind of thing

  20. Re:Historical assessment based on a few bible vers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So you see, it is more complicated than picking a couple of quotes to rationalize a position. This also shows how your approach is futile. You hold a complex, apolegetic interpretation and you furthermore assume that this was the way early christians interpreted it. But you don't know that and you can't show that based just a couple of biblical quotes.

    You are guilty of the same thing. Unless you were alive during the 1st century AD. I see no proof of your statements.