1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at 4 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works in love all things tech. And in 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: the last episode, I've focused on examples of hardware that, 6 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: while promoted by a company, never actually made it to market, 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: at least not in the form that was promised. So 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: in this episode, I want to take a look at 9 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: software that did a similar thing, and so we're talking 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: about vaporware specifically in the form of software. Mostly in software, 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: there's some overlap here. So this episode is actually going 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: to go out to all the programmers out there who 13 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: have dedicated countless hours towards working on something that never emerged. 14 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: I cannot imagine how frustrating that must be, to dedicate 15 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: hours of your life toward a project only to see 16 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: that project fizzle. UM. Hopefully, those of you out there 17 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: who have been involved in such a thing, at least 18 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: I hope you got paid for it. If not, that's 19 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: even worse obviously, But one piece of software that is 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: not on this list anymore is, of course, the infamous 21 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: Duke Nukem Forever game for a decade that title topped 22 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: numerous vaporware lists, most famously WIREDS Hall of Fame for 23 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 1: Vaporware got inducted in two thousand three, I believe by Wired, 24 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: and that was because the editors got tired of including 25 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: the title in their annual Vaporware Awards feature. They said, listen, 26 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: we can't just keep putting Duke Nukem on this list, 27 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,119 Speaker 1: so we're gonna put them in the Hall of Fame. 28 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: And then in two thousand five the raaders demanded that 29 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: they put it back on the list, so they did so. 30 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: George Bussard, who was a developer for three D Realms 31 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: UH and kind of a project leader, he first announced 32 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: work on Duke Nukem Forever back nineteen by n. Wired 33 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: was listing the game as vaporware because back then, two 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: years to make a computer game was an unusually lengthy 35 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: development cycle. Today it's not that unusual at all. Games 36 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: take millions of dollars and years to develop for your 37 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: your big Triple A titles, but back then it was 38 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: considered to be unusually, like ridiculously long. The game would 39 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: end up missing ship dates multiple times, largely because three 40 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: D Realms wanted the title to be a cutting edge 41 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: game that took full advantage of the latest hardware, and 42 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: hardware kept getting better and better while the game was 43 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: still in development, so they would change game engines a 44 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: couple of times, and that meant that a lot of 45 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: assets they had developed for the game had to be 46 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: completely scrapped and rebuilt. In other words, every time there 47 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: was a reason to change things, it's set everyone back 48 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: months or longer. The game did finally come out in 49 00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, fifteen years after the initial announcement, and 50 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: by then the game was published under two K Games 51 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: and developed by Gearbox Software. So one thing I guess 52 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: I can say is that there's a possibility, maybe only 53 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: a slim one, that one or more pieces of software 54 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: I talked about in this episode could one day come 55 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: out after all. Just don't hold your breath now. Another 56 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: game that is frequently mentioned when the term vaporware comes 57 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: up is Star Citizen, But to be fair, Star Citizen 58 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: has been releasing updates to an alpha build of the 59 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: game regularly. Now, it's true there's no beta version of 60 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: this game in place yet, let alone a commercial version, 61 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: but it's also true that there are at least gameplay 62 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: elements that backers can you can play right now. If 63 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: you backed the project and you have access to it, 64 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: then you can actually play those gameplay elements. It's just 65 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: not a fully cohesive game yet. The story of Star 66 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: Citizen is such that it leaves many people purple next 67 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: once they start hearing details. So here's a quick overview. 68 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: The game's development began in two thousand eleven with Chris Roberts, 69 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: who founded a company called Cloud Imperium Games. Roberts had 70 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: previously worked on some really notable games like Freelancer and 71 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: Wing Commander, and his goal was to create a massively 72 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: multiplayer online space simulator. Players can own and operate space vehicles, 73 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,839 Speaker 1: they can go on missions, they can engage in combat, 74 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: and they would have this enormous space environment to explore 75 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: and live in in that game. At least that's what 76 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: they'll be able to do once the game is finally finished. 77 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: In two thousand twelve, Star Citizen began to raise funds 78 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: both on Kickstarter and on its own site. Kickstarter's goal 79 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: was five thousand dollars, but their campaign raised more than 80 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: two million dollars. It was one of the most successful 81 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: campaigns at that time, and the game has raised funds 82 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: largely by selling in game assets to players, such as 83 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,720 Speaker 1: special ships, including ships that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. 84 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: I've listened to podcasts with hosts who have spent hundreds 85 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: of dollars on ships for the game. But spending that 86 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: much money for a virtual game that blows my mind. 87 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: But in two thousand eighteen, the company announced a package 88 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: called the Legatas Pack, and that includes one seventeen ships 89 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: with various add ons and skins for the game, all 90 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: for the low low price of twenty seven thousand real 91 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:43,719 Speaker 1: world dollars. So you'd spent twenty seven thousand dollars for 92 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: virtual ships in a computer game. What an earlier completionist 93 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,119 Speaker 1: pack sold for fifteen thousand dollars. In order to even 94 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 1: see the stuff that's included in the pack, you have 95 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: to be part of an elite group of enthusiasts who 96 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: have spent at least one thousand dollars one thousand real 97 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: world dollars on this game so far, a game that 98 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: only exists in alpha mode, and by that I mean 99 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: only parts of the game exists in alpha mode, or 100 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: or you could just call it the company and ask 101 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: about it. They'll tell you more over the phone, so 102 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: you don't have to spend the thousand dollars to get 103 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: access to that website. The game has raised more than 104 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: one hundred eighty six million dollars since it first started fundraising, 105 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: and while early goals were to have a full version 106 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: of the game available in two thousand fourteen, the company 107 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,719 Speaker 1: has since backed off on announcing a date when the 108 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: game will be done. They got burned too many times 109 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: saying well, it's gonna be out at this time, and 110 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 1: then they missed that date. Some people have become pretty 111 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: cheesed off about this, going so far as to suggest 112 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: that the company has a game in perpetual development just 113 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: as a way to coax more money from hopeful supporters. 114 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: In other words, they don't ever have to deliver a 115 00:06:57,800 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: full game. They just have to keep people strung alow 116 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: to keep getting fundraising money from them. But there's no 117 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: denying that gameplay elements have emerged over time. There are 118 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: total sections of this game you can play, and other 119 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: games like Minecraft existed as a playable beta for years, 120 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: to the point where people didn't even care if the 121 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: game ever emerged as something more than a beta. Still, 122 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: this is a game that's currently an alpha, not even 123 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: beta testing, so there's no knowing when or if the 124 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: full game will be available. Now, I could do a 125 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: full episode about games that never came out, and maybe 126 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: someday I will, but for now, let's just go over 127 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: a few anticipated titles that have to this date not 128 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: made it out of development, and some of them have 129 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: been canceled. One of those would be Star Wars thirteen. 130 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: That was a game that was supposed to allow the 131 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: player to control the famous Boba Fette in an action 132 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: adventure style game. The title referred to a level inside 133 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: the enormous city planet of Correissant. Corressant just looks like 134 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: a huge planet filled with skyscrapers, and you would divide 135 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: the planet up not just by quadrants, but by level. 136 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: Was supposed to be a level filled with seedy underworld characters. 137 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: Early video footage was shown off at industry events and 138 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: looked really impressive. But then the Mouse House purchased Lucasfilm 139 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: and along with it Lucas Arts, the the game studio 140 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: that was developing this game. Disney made the determination to 141 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 1: stop all internal development for games at Lucas Arts, and 142 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: all the developers got laid off. Lucas Arts exists now 143 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: only as an entity to issue licenses to other game developers, 144 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: and so thirt thirteen was shelved. Disney chose not to 145 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: renew the trademark license in I plan on doing a 146 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: whole episode or two about Blizzard soon, but one thing 147 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: I will not be talking about is how their game, 148 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 1: StarCraft Ghost did once it went on sale, because it 149 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: never did that. It never got out of development. The 150 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: idea was to it a stealth based game set in 151 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: the popular StarCraft universe, and StarCraft is a real time 152 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: strategy game, but Ghost would be a different type of gameplay, 153 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,559 Speaker 1: completely meant for consoles rather than PCs, and it was 154 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: supposed to come out in two thousand six, but it 155 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: wasn't until two thousand fourteen the Blizzard officially said, yeah, 156 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:20,679 Speaker 1: this one's not coming out. Also, in a mysterious and 157 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: creepy demo for PlayStation four came out, and the demo 158 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: was for what was called pt PT stood for Playable Teaser, 159 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: And in this teaser, you would walk down the hallway 160 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: and you would encounter creepy and disturbing imagery and then 161 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:37,959 Speaker 1: you would discover yourself at the beginning of the hallway 162 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: over and over again, and the creepy stuff would grow 163 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: even more disturbing, and it would change each time you 164 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: went down the hallway. At the conclusion of the trailer, 165 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: and was a video teaser for Silent Hills, obviously a 166 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,520 Speaker 1: game in the Silent Hill horror series. Hideo Kajima, famed 167 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: video game designer, and Guillermo del Toro, the famous filmmaker. 168 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: We're working on the project with actor Norman Das, who 169 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: is providing voice and performance acting for the game. But 170 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: the game eventually got canceled. Cojima would leave the company, 171 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: or he was fired or something that's never been totally clear, 172 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: and then Cojima went on to develop the as yet 173 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: unreleased game Death Stranding, also starring Ritas. So what is 174 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: Death Stranding about? Beats me. I watched about ten minutes 175 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: of footage from and I still have no idea what 176 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 1: that game is all about. Other games that fall into 177 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 1: this category include Titan, which was another Blizzard title that 178 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: never made it all development. There were a trilogy of 179 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,719 Speaker 1: games that were called Insane that was also supposed to 180 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: have Guillermo del Toro's involvement. Those never came out. Also 181 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: a game called Agent, which is an espionage game that 182 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: was supposed to come out from rock Star Games. It 183 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: was announced way back in two thousand nine, but as 184 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: of yet has not come out, But there have been 185 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: reports from as recently as ten that's some variation of 186 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: that game Miss still in development. So maybe we will 187 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: one day see Agent see the light of day. Next, 188 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: we're gonna turn our focus from video games to other 189 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: types of software. But first let's take a quick break 190 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. Now, in the world of software, 191 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: there's an old example of vaporware that still gets reference today. 192 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,680 Speaker 1: The example dates all the way back to nine three, 193 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: and that's when a company called Ovation Technologies announced a 194 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 1: suite of productivity software that it said would leave all 195 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: competitors in the dust. The company claimed it's Ovation Suite 196 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: included features like spreadsheets, word processing, data management, communication tools, 197 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: all of them integrated together. So it's going to be 198 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 1: a powerful tool for businesses, far exceeding the capabilities of 199 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,599 Speaker 1: competing software that was just starting to get a foothold 200 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: in the market at that time. Ovation produced a demo 201 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: of its product Sucked, in order to show off what 202 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: it could do at various trade shows. The demo was 203 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: a video, and here's the thing. The video was filled 204 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: with false claims because there was no actual product to 205 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: show off. The video was just completely manufactured. It wasn't 206 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: supposedly showing off a concept, it was supposed to be 207 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: showing off a working build of the software. The truth 208 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: was the company had nothing to show yet. The demo 209 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: was created in an effort to convince potential investors to 210 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:33,199 Speaker 1: pour money into the company. Presumably that money would then 211 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: be used to actually make the software that the company 212 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: was claimed to have built. But Ovation wasn't able to 213 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: stay above the waves of bankruptcy, and eventually they ran 214 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: out of money before they could ever produce anything real, 215 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: so it instead became an infamous example of vaporware and 216 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: smoke and mirrors. Some people going so far as to 217 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 1: say it was essentially a hoax or scam. Others are 218 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: a little more charitable, and they said, well, they didn't 219 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: intend for it to be a scam. They were just 220 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: trying to raise the money to build the thing they 221 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: wanted to build. And instead of saying it like that, 222 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:10,080 Speaker 1: they said, hey, we have this thing, we've built it already, 223 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: invest in us and you'll make your money back. And 224 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: that was dishonest. When I did episodes about the Macintosh, 225 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: I talked about how Apple as a company was struggling 226 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,079 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties before Steve Jobs returned to Apple. 227 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: You know, he co founded the company, but he was 228 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: then pushed aside and uh, John Scully essentially took over 229 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 1: and Jobs found himself leaving the company or being fired 230 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: from the company. It all depends upon whose account you believe. 231 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 1: And then he went to start a new company called Next. Meanwhile, 232 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: back at Apple, developers were hard at work trying to 233 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:50,200 Speaker 1: create the next generation of the Mac operating system. The 234 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: preceding generation was called System seven and that launched back 235 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: in n It worked well, but it's still depended upon 236 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: old architecture that by design limited what users could do. 237 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: And the reason for these limitations was in order to 238 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 1: streamline processes. So, in other words, the stuff the operating 239 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: system could do, it could do really really well. But 240 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: largely it could do that stuff really well because the 241 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: developers were ignoring all the stuff the operating system could 242 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: not do. And one of those things was true multitasking. 243 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: You could kind of sort of multitask with System seven 244 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: mac os, but it was doing it in a way 245 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: that wasn't terribly efficient and wasn't true multitasking. Also, an 246 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: error could cause the system to crash, and if you 247 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: were running multiple programs at once, a bug in any 248 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: of those programs could cause the entire computer to crash 249 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: as a result. So instead of compartmentalizing each of these 250 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: instances so that if there's a problem, only that one 251 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: program crashes, it would affect the entire system. And so 252 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,040 Speaker 1: the more programs you were running, the more likely you 253 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: would run into that and have to do a full 254 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 1: system reboot and lose all your work. So it was 255 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: not a great scene. Now. A proposed successor to System 256 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: seven was a project code named Copeland. It took a 257 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: very different approach to architecture to allow for better control 258 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: over multiple programs, among other things. So why was it 259 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: called Copeland, Well, it was named after the composer. The 260 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: code name for System seven point five had been Mozart. 261 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: There was a third planned iteration that was code named 262 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: Gershwin and Copeland stuck right in the between them. There 263 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: was supposed to be transitional to move the operating system 264 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: away from the old architecture of System seven and set 265 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: the ground for a new architecture that would support future 266 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: generations of OS builds. Apple announced that Copeland was in 267 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: development back in by Gil Emilio, who had recently become 268 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: the CEO of Apple, talked a lot about the various 269 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: features that Copeland would have. At that point, they had 270 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: renamed it. They were calling it System eight, representing an 271 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 1: entirely new generation of operating systems. Demonstrations of the operating 272 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: system did not go well, uh, they they people could 273 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: see promises of what the operating system might be able 274 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: to do, but you couldn't even do things like inter 275 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: in text in the early demos of System mate, and 276 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: that represented a big problem. Obviously, demonstrations uh did not 277 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: help the case. The development team was fractured, different groups 278 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: working on specific features, but seemingly no guiding hand to 279 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: bring all of those features together into a cohesive operating system. 280 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: So you had people working very uh intensely on just 281 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: a very narrow group of features with no thought of 282 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: how it was going to integrate with the overall system. 283 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: And there's a lot of feature creep coming into more 284 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: and more features that were being added to this operating system, 285 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: growing the project, making it harder to complete and in August, 286 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: Apple finally pulled the plug. By the end of nine, 287 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: Apple would announce that Steve Jobs would be joining the 288 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: company in an advisory capacity because Apple was requiring Next 289 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs as new company in an effort to get 290 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: their operating system development moving again. Essentially, they were saying, well, 291 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,719 Speaker 1: we couldn't develop the operating system in house, Let's go 292 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: buy Steve's company Next and bring those assets over and 293 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: make that into the new Mac operating system. Jobs would 294 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,639 Speaker 1: eventually convince the board of directors to give the boot 295 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: to Gil Emilio and Jobs would take over, first as 296 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: interim CEO and later as the official CEO of Apple. 297 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,679 Speaker 1: Back in music companies were in a tizzy because digital 298 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 1: music formats that made it incredibly easy to share music 299 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: on a global scale, peer to peer sharing networks and 300 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:50,400 Speaker 1: pirate sites were undermining the business model the music industry 301 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: have been reliant upon for decades, and if you want 302 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 1: to talk about disruptive technologies, the development of digital music 303 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: file formats would be way up there. And so a 304 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: group of companies, not just in the music industry, got 305 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: together to try and create a solution to this perceived problem, 306 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: and the idea was to create technology that would allow 307 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: music companies to sell digital forms of music and rest 308 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 1: assured that only the people who coughed up the dough 309 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: could listen to the stuff at tech that would foil 310 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: the attempts of dirty, nasty pirates out there who would 311 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: steal money right from their pockets. Sort of, all right, 312 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 1: let's put aside for the moment the fact that you 313 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: cannot prove someone who pirates the piece of media would 314 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 1: otherwise have paid for that media, because that would negate 315 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: your argument that they're stealing money from you. Right now, 316 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: you might think this sounds a lot like the group 317 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:45,560 Speaker 1: which was called the Secure Digital Music Initiative or s 318 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:47,959 Speaker 1: d m I, that they were trying to come up 319 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: with a DRM strategy, and you would be right. Digital 320 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: rights management was exactly what they were looking at. That 321 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: was what they were trying to do. They wanted to 322 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,719 Speaker 1: create a means to imprint a digital water mark on 323 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: a file, so piece of code that could be attached 324 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,679 Speaker 1: to a music file to prove that it came from 325 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: a legitimate source. The watermark would be designed in such 326 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: a way so that it would be really hard to 327 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,919 Speaker 1: remove without it also causing some sort of damage to 328 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: the music file like decreasing the quality of the audio itself. 329 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: So if you tried to remove it, then the sound 330 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: wouldn't be as good on your music file, and you 331 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: would ruin the thing you were trying to You're trying 332 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: to uh crack. And there was a second arm to 333 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,639 Speaker 1: the strategy. They were going to partner with manufacturers to 334 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: produce devices that could play back s d m I files, 335 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: but only if there was proof that the user was 336 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: authorized to play those files. So let's say it's a computer. 337 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:43,760 Speaker 1: The computer would have to have a proof that the 338 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 1: owner had a license to play that music, and then 339 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: it would say, all right, well the license matches up 340 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: with the sdm I water mark. Everything's good. The watermark 341 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: is a is a real water mark. It's clearly from 342 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 1: the company, so we will allow this file to play. 343 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: On Nimber six, two thousand, the group issued an open 344 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:06,360 Speaker 1: challenge to anyone to try and remove the digital watermark 345 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: from some examples of music files without ruining those music files, 346 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: and to do so within three weeks. A group led 347 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: by Princeton computer science professor Ed Felton claimed to do 348 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: just that, though s d m I initially protested, saying 349 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 1: that the judging software, which by the way they themselves 350 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: had provided, could not take into account the sound quality 351 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: of the music file. Felton planned to give a talk 352 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: about his group's methodology, and s d m I, along 353 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: with some other parties, threatened to sue Felton and his group. 354 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: They said, this is going to be a violation of 355 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act the d m c A. 356 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: But the Department of Justice was disinclined to acquiesce to 357 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: the demands of s d m I in pirate speak, 358 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 1: so in other words, they said, go ahead, dog, publish 359 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,359 Speaker 1: your work. Felton, you got it, We got your back. 360 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: S d m I effectively ended in two thousand one, 361 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: although according to the then director, it was not because 362 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: the water marks could be removed. Rather, he said the 363 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: technology was not capable of being unnoticeable by golden ears, 364 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: meaning that he was saying that the process of putting 365 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: the digital water mark on the music files was by 366 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: itself affecting the sound quality slightly, and if you were 367 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: really really good at listening, you'd be able to detect it. 368 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: And that's why it never worked. It wasn't that someone 369 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: had cracked the system and they were able to remove 370 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: the water mark. It was just that it never worked 371 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: in the first place. UM. I don't know if those 372 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: are sour grapes or not, but anyway you could say 373 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,159 Speaker 1: the whole stm I file uh form was was vaporware. 374 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: I have more to say about vaporware in the next section, 375 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 1: but first let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. 376 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: All right, this next example is part software, part hardware. 377 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: Back in two thousand twelve, Justin Timberlake took a break 378 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,919 Speaker 1: from bringing Sexy Back to take the stage at CES 379 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. He was there to announce a partnership 380 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 1: with Panasonic to bring a service called my Space TV 381 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: to the new Vierra HDTV television sets. The idea being 382 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: that would be an over the top service, So you 383 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: would plug your Vierra TV in, you would have it 384 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,120 Speaker 1: connected to your network, and then you could tap into 385 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 1: this my Space TV service and the service would start 386 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: off with the library of music videos that my Space 387 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: already had at its disposal, which was around a hundred 388 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: thousand or so, and also my spaces library of songs, 389 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: which was around forty two million songs, and then it 390 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: was supposed to grow to quote encompass movies, news, sports, 391 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: and reality channels with a growing lineup of today's most 392 00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 1: popular broadcast and on demand content. End quote a wording 393 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: to a press release issued by the two companies. Timberlake 394 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: himself talked about the social aspect of the service, which 395 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: would let people share what they were watching in real time, 396 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 1: so you could create a sort of online viewing party experience, 397 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: but the service as talked about never materialized. Just a 398 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: note here, my Space did create a service called my 399 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: Space TV, but that was way back in two thousand seven, 400 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,160 Speaker 1: five years before this c e S presentation, and back 401 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: then that was a video site meant to compete with YouTube, 402 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: so it was meant to allow my Space users to 403 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,119 Speaker 1: upload user generated content to the video site, So that 404 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: was different from what Panasonic and MySpace we're talking about 405 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve. Also, my Space had been declining 406 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: in popularity steadily since two thousand eight, so this was 407 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: kind of a big surprise to see my Space teaming 408 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: up with Panasonic in the first place, because my Space 409 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,399 Speaker 1: had lost a lot of street cred by then. News Corps, 410 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: which had bought my Space in two thousand five for 411 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 1: five eighty million dollars had sold the company in two 412 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 1: thousand eleven for much less, perhaps as low as thirty 413 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: five million dollars. That's an enormous loss, and Rupert Murdoch, 414 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: the owner of news Corps, would call the purchase of 415 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: MySpace one of the biggest mistakes news Corps ever made. 416 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: A company called specific Media became the new owner of MySpace, 417 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: and then eventually they were also a company that would 418 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: belonged to a larger company called Volant Technologies. Time Incorporated 419 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,879 Speaker 1: bought Volant in two thousand and sixteen, so Volant was 420 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: the parent company not only of MySpace and specific Media, 421 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,719 Speaker 1: but also of other companies like Vindico and Schumo. Now 422 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,840 Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about different examples of vaporware in 423 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: these two episodes, so I thought it would be useful 424 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,159 Speaker 1: to kind of talk about why vaporware exists in the 425 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: first place, or or why it it doesn't exist, you 426 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: know what I mean. Why do companies announced products that 427 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: are not yet ready for market and may never full development. Well, 428 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:05,200 Speaker 1: there are several potential reasons. First, there's the possibility that 429 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: the company has every intent to actually release the product 430 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: as they are promoting it, but internal or external problems 431 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,960 Speaker 1: right at the end are derailing the project and pushing 432 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: back the release date. That happens a lot, both in 433 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,479 Speaker 1: software and in hardware. So you scope about your project right. 434 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: You define what you want to deliver, You define the 435 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: process you're going to take in order to make the 436 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: product that you've designed. You identify what you think are 437 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,679 Speaker 1: going to be the challenging sticking points. You create strategies 438 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: to overcome those challenges, and you move forward. And then 439 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,920 Speaker 1: something you did not anticipate happens, because it always does. 440 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: That's that's how the real world works, and that throws 441 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: you off. So then you adjust and you try to 442 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: move forward as best you can, trying to keep your 443 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,879 Speaker 1: vision intact. But then you find out that whatever the 444 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: solution was to that unexpected problem that popped up, that 445 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,199 Speaker 1: solution has now broken something else, like one of your 446 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,640 Speaker 1: features now no longer works. Or maybe your lead developer 447 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: gets hired away by a competitor, or maybe your company 448 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: is acquired by another company, or maybe your money is 449 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: just running out. There are plenty of cases where vaporware 450 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:16,919 Speaker 1: is an unfortunate byproduct of unpredictable challenges during a project cycle. 451 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 1: Has nothing to do with any nefarious plans. But then 452 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: there are more underhanded, shady practices. There's the possibility of 453 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: an outright cash grab. This is your old snake oil 454 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: salesman methodology, where you promise someone the moon and stars 455 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 1: and you have no intention to deliver upon this promise. 456 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: But those scams are pretty difficult to pull off well 457 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: without serious consequences Further down the road, like how do 458 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:46,360 Speaker 1: you raise a huge amount of money trying to sell 459 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: a complete scam and then still expect to get away 460 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,400 Speaker 1: Because eventually people get mad if they find out they've 461 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: been hoodwinked, and governments exist in part to protect people 462 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,919 Speaker 1: from such things. So it's not the kind of grift 463 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,199 Speaker 1: that you want to run for very long because you're 464 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,119 Speaker 1: gonna get come uppants. So you're likely gonna get dinged 465 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: by a lawsuit or three, and that's really gonna put 466 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: a crimp on your day. But another tactic is to 467 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:18,200 Speaker 1: announce a product that's well ahead of schedule. Maybe the 468 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: general public doesn't know it's well ahead of schedule, but 469 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 1: you might suspect that's going to be a few years 470 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: before this product is rated to market, But you announce 471 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: it in order to take the wind of the sales 472 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,479 Speaker 1: of a competitor. There's an example of this, or at 473 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: least an example of a company that's been accused of 474 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: doing this. Way back in nineteen sixty four, IBM announced 475 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: it would introduce a series of mainframe computers under the 476 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,640 Speaker 1: name System three sixty, but those computers wouldn't actually become 477 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:52,160 Speaker 1: available for purchase for a few years, so IBM announced 478 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: it prematurely. However, the announcement prompted a lot of would 479 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: be customers to wait on this promised System of three 480 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 1: sixty machine to come out rather than purchase a system 481 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 1: from one of IBM's competitors, like the Controlled Data Corporation 482 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,360 Speaker 1: or c d C. C d C brought an antitrust 483 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 1: lawsuit against IBM in nineteen sixty eight. The United States 484 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: eventually took up this antitrust lawsuit against the company, and 485 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,200 Speaker 1: this particular part of the lawsuits said that IBM knew 486 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,160 Speaker 1: its systems were years from market, but that they decided 487 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 1: to advertise these upcoming machines as being comparable to c 488 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: d c s existing products on the market at that 489 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,479 Speaker 1: moment in an effort to undercut their competitor. So they 490 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 1: said this is anti competitive. It is against the principles 491 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: of a free market. The anti trust lawsuit, which grew 492 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,080 Speaker 1: substantially with a lot of other parties becoming involved, would 493 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,440 Speaker 1: stretch on until nine two until the Justice Department finally 494 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: dismissed the case. So that was a pretty expensive strategy 495 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: marketing strategy. Employing lawyers in an active lawsuit that lasts 496 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 1: longer than a decade gets pretty pricey. And sometimes a 497 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: company will announce a product that hasn't even gone into 498 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: production just as a way to gauge demand. Now, you 499 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: could argue that a lot of the projects on platforms 500 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,200 Speaker 1: like Kickstarter and indie go go fall into this category. 501 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,600 Speaker 1: The people running those campaigns are usually selling the idea 502 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: of a thing. Very often they don't have a working prototype. 503 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: Sometimes they do, which is fantastic, but often they just 504 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: say I have this great idea, but in order for 505 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: me to make this thing, I'm gonna need money. So 506 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: they're looking to get investment into an idea to presumably 507 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: bring that idea to fruition. Or you could point at 508 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:44,400 Speaker 1: about half the stuff that think Geek has thrown up 509 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: on its April Fools page every year. If you've ever 510 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: visited the Think Geek site on April fools Day, and 511 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: you're likely to see at least one or two products that, 512 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: while they are fake, seem like they'd be pretty awesome 513 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: to have in real life. And Think Geek has actually 514 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: made some of those fake product real products as a result, 515 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 1: and a lot of people have said Think Geek is 516 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: actually using the jokes page to kind of measure the 517 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: response of Think Geek customers, and if the response is 518 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: really positive, they'll go ahead and bring it to market. 519 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: Otherwise they'll just say, well, we're not gonna We're not 520 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: gonna make back the expense of making this thing, so 521 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: we won't bother with that. Uh So you could argue 522 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: that those items were in reality vaporware in an effort 523 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 1: to judge how much people might actually want one of 524 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: those things, but still clear that many of the items 525 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: and thinkings April Fool's pages are just jokes. They were 526 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: never intended to become actual products, so it's not like 527 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: every single one of them falls in that category. I 528 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,240 Speaker 1: plan on doing follow up episodes in this vein to 529 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: talk more about some of the games that never emerged, 530 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: So I might might do another episode about the greatest 531 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: video games that never existed, I've done one of those before, 532 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 1: but it was years and years ago, so maybe I 533 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: can do an update sometime in the future. Not net 534 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: the next one. I think I may dedicate an episode 535 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: specifically to crowdfunded projects that either were incredible successes, terrible failures, 536 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 1: or they successfully funded but the item never emerged. Whatever 537 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 1: the goal of the project was, never came to fruition. 538 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: I think that it's valuable to look into that as well. 539 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: So that's probably gonna be my next episode. But if 540 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: you guys have suggestions for future episodes, whether it's a technology, 541 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: a company, a person in tech, whatever it may be, 542 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: send me an email. The address for the show is 543 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop 544 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:38,960 Speaker 1: me a line on Facebook or Twitter to handle it. 545 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,080 Speaker 1: Both of those is tech Stuff H s W. Don't 546 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: forget to follow us on Instagram and I'll talk to 547 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: you again really soon for more on this and thousands 548 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: of other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com? 549 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: Who