Vaporware is any software or hardware which is announced by a vendor well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge. Goods are promised, but not delivered.Any program that's in a never-ending, pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available.
Here are some of the most interesting recipients of the Wired.com Vaporware Awards 2005.
- Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs - Other than a constant stream of hyped press releases from Sony, there has been little indication of any progress.
- Microsoft Vista and Internet Explorer 7 - The ever-delayed debut of Microsoft's next version of Windows, Vista, is a long-running vaporware joke. It's been put off so many times, it's been called "Hasta la Vista."
- Google - betas galore - Google never seems to release a final version of anything. Google Gmail, Groups, Froogle, Alerts, Blog Search, Book Search and Scholar are all in beta.