Vaporware: Better Late Than Never

Leander Kahney Email 02.06.06
5. StarCraft Ghost

In Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft Ghost, gamers play a curvy assassin with superhuman reflexes and "deadly mental powers."

Set in the massive StarCraft universe, the game features plenty of outrageous weapons and a "deeply evolving" story line (don't they mean "involving"?).

One reader noted the game was announced in 2002 and promised to ship in 2003 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. "Since then, Blizzard has delayed the game many times, changed the development team and dropped support for the GC," the reader wrote. "The game is currently expected sometime during 2006, although I personally believe that it will be released around the time of the PS4 and Xbox 1080."

Reader Chris Raduazzo wrote: "They will need to think up something good to prevent it from feeling dated by the time it is released (if ever)."

4. Microsoft's 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."

Even Microsoft is in on the joke. The company is running a competition for overseas customers to see who can correctly guess the system's release date.

And though it's a stretch to nominate the operating system itself as vaporware -- Bill and Co. have been saying for a while that it'll ship in late 2006 -- lots of readers nominated the Vista public beta. Promised in mid-2005, the beta will not appear until later this year. It'll be rolled out in two stages -- a somewhat limited release to big business customers in the first quarter, and a "broader" seed in the summer.

"Instead of a revolution yesterday, we're going to have a minor disturbance tomorrow," was the underwhelmed reaction from reader Avery M.

Reader Trent Nadeau wrote: "I think the ultimate vaporware of the last few years should be Microsoft Windows Vista. I think it will be released roughly when the sun goes nova and swallows the earth."

Then there's Internet Explorer 7, which Microsoft made available as a public beta last week; too late, alas, to dodge the 2005 vaporware honor roll.

Stephen Karla wrote: "Can't remember the name of the company that hyped it. They also said something about a brand-new operating system (Longhorn or Vista or something?)."

3. Google -- betas galore

Google makes the vaporware top three for all of its products in perpetual beta: Gmail, Groups, Froogle, Alerts, Blog Search, Book Search and Scholar. Although Google News left beta last month, it squeaks in for 2005 honors too.

Sure, millions of people use these services every day, but by our definition, they're vaporware: "Any program that's in a never-ending, pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available."

"The list goes on and on," said reader Jennifer Scott. "Google never seems to release a final version of anything."

Reader Jason Tracy said: "Google's endless beta cycle is the 2K's equivalent to putting the yellow and black 'Under Construction' sign on a website you just didn't quite finish in the '90s."

Reader Richard Lewis noted: "Although I can't live without it, Gmail has been in beta phase for as long as I can remember, which either means that it's been a really long time or that my long-term memory is completely shot. Although very widely available, thanks no doubt to the early sale of invites on eBay for upwards of $500, I suppose that it's still vaporware."

Reader Jason Weill said: "Google News has been in beta for three years and hasn't been touched during that time. I've seen a lot of pseudo-legal blathering about how Google has an obligation not to declare its news site as a finished product, but really all the site has become is a hodgepodge of selections from wire services, blogs of various reputations and the occasional government-run propaganda mill. Put it out of its misery, and take Orkut with it, Google!"

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