Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!sdcc6!calmasd!jnp
From: jnp@calmasd.GE.COM (John Pantone)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Report on the Expo
Message-ID: <15@calmasd.GE.COM>
Date: 19 Aug 88 15:53:43 GMT
References: <639@stech.UUCP> <4710@claris.UUCP> <8189@cup.portal.com>
Organization: GE/Calma, 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego, CA 92121
Lines: 29
In-reply-to: jwhitnell@cup.portal.com's message of 16 Aug 88 18:24:27 GMT


Jerry Whitnell writes:
>VaporWare is anything annouced but not yet shipped.  Hence Wingz is definitly
>vaporware.  It doesn't matter whether they've slipped a delivery date or not.
>And it's the worst sort of vaporware, a company's first product.  You have
>no idead whether or  not they will ship on time or a year late or whether
>they'll go out of business before they ship.  That is what is wrong with
>vaporware annoucments.  It's the old IBM ploy of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and
>Doubt).

A little harsh, aren't we Jerry?  I think that you will find agreement
among most people in the industry (and particularly those in the
media) that Vaporware is software announced, and slipped.  The
monetary realities of this world require that software be announced
prior to its first customer ship.  Most firms announce during the
final integration or first q/a cycles.  This allows the distribution
channels to begin to adapt to the new product.  It is usually
impossible to wait for the final q/a to be finished before announcing
the product - it just doesn't pay to have all those people sitting
around on their hands waiting to get to work.

Only a company with IBM's (past) strangle-hold on its customers and
the industry could get away with the FUD business - and for years they
did just that.  FUD was, however, principally a strategy aimed at
their potential competitors, not their customers.

-- 
These opinions are solely mine and in no way reflect those of my employer.  
John M. Pantone @ GE/Calma R&D, 9805 Scranton Rd., San Diego, CA 92121
...{ucbvax|decvax}!sdcsvax!calmasd!jnp   jnp@calmasd.GE.COM   GEnie: J.PANTONE