Vaporware

:This article refers to the term as used in computer industry. For the company, see VaporWare (company).

History

Perhaps the very first example of vaporware in the field of computing was Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine of 1834-1837, which remained unfinished for lack of funds. The word vaporware itself was popularized in the trade press circa 1984, perhaps in response to Ovation Technologies' Ovation, an integrated software package for MS-DOS. Ovation was announced in 1983. Company management was widely lauded for their skill in securing venture financing, generating "buzz", and giving superb demonstrations showing a product that, had it existed, would have been greatly superior to Lotus Software's Lotus 1-2-3. Unfortunately, they neglected to arrange for development of an actual product.

Related Topics:
Charles Babbage - Analytical Engine - 1834 - 1837 - 1984 - Ovation Technologies - Ovation - MS-DOS - 1983 - Lotus Software - Lotus 1-2-3

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CIO magazine credits Esther Dyson as having coined the word in 1984. http://www.cio.com/archive/010100/time.html, however, states that "Although 'vaporware' was perhaps popularized by Esther, she credits Ann Winblad, who in turn heard it from Microsoft's Mark Ursino… but Stewart Alsop...may have been the one to turn it into everyday lingo with his P.C. Letter list."http://memex.org/cm-archive7.html

Related Topics:
CIO magazine - Esther Dyson - Stewart Alsop

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