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Usually used to explain a product that has been introduced however by no means launched, “vaporware” was reportedly coined by a Microsoft engineer (both John Ulett or Mark Ursino) when being requested in regards to the state of the corporate’s Xenix working system. The phrase went on to be popularized by author Esther Dyson after she used it her November 1983 problem of RELease 1.0.
The time period “vaporware” thus comes from the mixture of the phrases “vapor” and “software program.” Typically used to seek advice from merchandise which can be introduced with nice fanfare however are by no means delivered, or merchandise which can be introduced far upfront of their anticipated launch date however by no means truly materialize.
Unix was developed by Bell Labs and licensed by AT&T to outfits equivalent to Microsoft who had to decide on a singular title for his or her model — Xenix on this case — which Microsoft licensed to corporations together with IBM, Intel, Tandy and SCO, though Xenix was by no means bought straight to finish customers. Microsoft Xenix was developed within the late Nineteen Seventies and early Nineteen Eighties and have become fashionable within the company world resulting from its help for multi-user and networking capabilities.
In 1987, Microsoft bought Xenix to SCO, which ported it to the 32-bit 386 CPU. SCO continued to develop and help the working system for a number of years. Microsoft reportedly used Xenix on Solar workstations and VAX minicomputers as late as 1992.