The vaporware game Jai Singh April 25, 1997

Mention the word vaporware, and you are bound to get knowing snickers from most people in high technology.

The vaporware game is an open secret in the software industry: most everyone plays it, but no one admits it.

The play consists of a series of hints, leaks, and even press releases designed to give the impression that a certain product is about to hit the market, yet it never quite ships "in time." Miasma Corp. tells its customers and the press that VaporWare 4.0 will ship in September. Come September, a company official sheepishly admits "it's just taking longer than we thought." Meanwhile, the press takes the company to task for tardiness, which oftimes serves less to shame the company than to fuel the fading hopes of consumers grown weary of the wait. Usually, the truth is that the company knew the product would ship six months later all along.

So why engage in the vaporware charade? To freeze the market, of course. If customers can be led into thinking that the product is right around the corner, they are more likely to wait for it rather than buy or evaluate something else.

Ergo, vaporware.

Sun honcho Scott McNealy, as usual, was in fine form as the concluding speaker at a recent Sun press briefing day. He shot zingers at arch-rival Microsoft and Bill Gates. NC vs. PC has nothing to do with hardware, he told the assembled journalists. The battle is over a Java browser vs. the "PC hairball."

The event was meant to inform and educate the media on all that was happening with Sun software. Rather than making news, it was more about Sun's strategic thinking: the 30,000-foot view, if you will.

But the Sun King put the event in perspective. We know his feelings about all of Microsoft's wins. He was there to declare that he was tired of Microsoft winning the vaporware war as well. And just as important, he was there to tell us that if you can't beat 'em, join them.

"I apologize for not giving you more future stuff. What we talked about today is about the products we already have," McNealy said, adding: "It's like we are talking about baseball bats and the other side is talking vapor. Have you ever tried to hit vapor with a baseball bat? It's very difficult."

McNealy went on to say that this was Sun's debut in the vaporware arena and that the company is bound to improve at it. And then he really lowered the boom.

"We want to play the vaporware game so you can write about the missed deadlines," McNealy told the assembled journalists.

Ouch.

To be sure, if this indeed is viewed as a game, the technology press has been a more-than-willing participant. Take Cairo, for instance. This Microsoft product started making headlines three or four years ago. Sometimes it was because of well-placed Microsoft leaks. Other times we in the technology press deemed it a subject worthy of putting considerable reporting resources behind to dig up new details about the next-generation operation system.

We wrote about its implications and impact on NT and Windows 3.x and 95. We wrote about its object technology. And on and on. But the Cairo we started reporting about is not what we said it was. The latest word from Microsoft is that Cairo, in its final form, is a set of technologies; it won't be a product at all.

Obviously, Cairo is just one example. As with many things, the Internet has transformed the very notion of vaporware. Now, products are constantly in beta, and the software cycle has shortened from 12 to 18 months to 3 to 6 months. The news we bring to you is more often based on a product that is at least in alpha, if not in beta, stage.

Still, based on McNealy's comments, the perception of reporting on vaporware is rampant. Maybe it's time for us to "just say no" to vaporware. That's really more a question than a suggestion, though.

I honestly don't know if it serves you, the reader, to write product stories that are a year or more away. We let you know when a story is "just in" or "updated" by putting a little yellow tag on it. I've been thinking about tagging product stories that are, say, six months or more away with a "vaporware" label.