MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

6charlong · 08-03-2009, 01:42 AM

As one of those who called the Pocket Pro “vaporware” I feel badly that RobertB was hurt by the use of the term; that was never my purpose. However, as a member of the Mobileread Forum, I feel it is incumbent on all members to be truthful. I’m posting to restate the assertion that the Pocket Pro is still vaporware, just like the Sony PRS300, Opus, BeBook Mini, and all the other promised but not yet available devices—they are ALL vaporware.

Vaporwear means promised, usually under development, hardware and software. It remains vaporwear until it is released. The process is similar to the scientific method. Once the product is completed it is reported—in the case of book readers that is to say, it’s released for sale. The penultimate step is peer review. Once the actual reader is in the hands of people who use readers, they will attach it to thousands of different PCs, dozens of operating systems and throw every imaginable file format, from a wide variety of sources, at it and try to read the books under every imaginable condition… and report back to the community at large what they find. But as to vaporware, I repeat, until any product is in the hands of people who actually use that type of product it remains vaporware.

As I understand it, shaking down book reading hardware and software is what a forum like Mobileread does. It’s all part of the process. There is no point in having hurt feelings. Every device and every program goes through the same process. This is how they get better (or not). Magazine reviews of book readers, rare as they have been, have so far always been hopelessly inadequate and often sound like sales pitches rather than objective critiques.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing the Pocket Pro move to the next stage and can’t wait to read the results.

08-03-2009, 01:42 AM	#90
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	Vaporware As one of those who called the Pocket Pro “vaporware” I feel badly that RobertB was hurt by the use of the term; that was never my purpose. However, as a member of the Mobileread Forum, I feel it is incumbent on all members to be truthful. I’m posting to restate the assertion that the Pocket Pro is still vaporware, just like the Sony PRS300, Opus, BeBook Mini, and all the other promised but not yet available devices—they are ALL vaporware. Vaporwear means promised, usually under development, hardware and software. It remains vaporwear until it is released. The process is similar to the scientific method. Once the product is completed it is reported—in the case of book readers that is to say, it’s released for sale. The penultimate step is peer review. Once the actual reader is in the hands of people who use readers, they will attach it to thousands of different PCs, dozens of operating systems and throw every imaginable file format, from a wide variety of sources, at it and try to read the books under every imaginable condition… and report back to the community at large what they find. But as to vaporware, I repeat, until any product is in the hands of people who actually use that type of product it remains vaporware. As I understand it, shaking down book reading hardware and software is what a forum like Mobileread does. It’s all part of the process. There is no point in having hurt feelings. Every device and every program goes through the same process. This is how they get better (or not). Magazine reviews of book readers, rare as they have been, have so far always been hopelessly inadequate and often sound like sales pitches rather than objective critiques. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing the Pocket Pro move to the next stage and can’t wait to read the results.