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Comment by adamrezich | Hacker News Reader

when did "vaporware" change meaning from "something that has been talked about repeatedly, for a long time, but never ended up releasing" to simply "something that is not out right now"? I've seen this word misused similarly a lot recently.

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The meaning of "vaporware" has evolved over time. It originally referred to software or hardware products that were announced or promised to be released, but never actually materialized or were significantly delayed. However, as technology and the pace of innovation have accelerated, the definition of vaporware has broadened to encompass any product or service that is promised or rumored, but has not yet been released. As a result, the word is now sometimes used more broadly to refer to things that are not currently available, even if they are in development and likely to be released in the future.

-- Courtesy of ChatGPT

man that sucks. now it's a useless word, synonymous with "unreleased".

remember the Phantom? classic vaporware. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Entertainment

I've always thought that until it is actually released, and especially if there is slightly misleading information that it is there but YOU can't try it (but really nobody can but that is downplayed), than it is indistinguishable from long-term vaporware. Both Google's and Bing's announcements currently fall into this.

so like back in the day when gmail or Inbox were invite-only, you would've called those "vaporware" if you couldn't get access yourself, immediately? I just don't see the use of using this term for imminent releases.

I thought it's a released product that doesn't implement any process, i.e. a gimmick.

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