Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
1,087,230,970 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

vaporware
(redirected from Waporvare)

   Also found in: Wikipedia 0.06 sec.

Software that is not yet in production, but the announced delivery date has long since passed. At times, software vendors are criticized for intentionally producing vaporware in order to keep customers from switching to competitive products that offer more features. However, programmers are notorious for being awful estimators of time. As a result, shipping dates often slip over and over again.

Sometimes, the gap between management and technical staff in software companies is just as large as in user organizations. Dates slip because the project is not managed properly, which can be caused by management's lack of understanding of the scope of the project as well as a lack of knowledge of the competence of the technical staff. In addition, as software projects progress from stage to stage, new functions and changes always seem to creep in.

Remember This Well
"As bad as programmers are at estimating the length of a project, they are equally as optimistic about their ability to meet the requirements and deadlines."


(jargon)vaporware - /vay'pr-weir/ (UK "vapourware") Products announced far in advance of any release (which may or may not actually take place). The term came from Atari users and was later applied by Infoworld to Microsoft's continuous lying about Microsoft Windows.

See also brochureware.


How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.. Terms of Use.