{"id":2653,"date":"2014-03-24T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/?p=2653"},"modified":"2018-07-26T11:47:38","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T10:47:38","slug":"paul-atkinson-delete-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/paul-atkinson-delete-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Atkinson’s ‘Delete’ featured in ICON magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor Paul Atkinson<\/a> is to be featured in the April edition of ICON magazine<\/a>, in a six-page spread featuring examples of vapourware from Paul’s book Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

See below for an extract:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vapourware is a term for computer products that a company announces, but doesn\u2019t put into production. This might seem a straightforward concept, but arguments over what counts as ‘vapourware’ have continued for years.<\/p>\n

There are several reasons a prototype may not have gone into production, the most common of which is that a manufacturer or software house keeps on announcing the imminent launch of a new product which is a long way from actual production; sometimes it doesn\u2019t exist at all. In other words, the term describes a deliberate attempt to mislead the buying public.<\/p>\n

But the failure of an announced product to reach the market isn\u2019t always a fraud. By the time a product is ready for market, more than one company has found that the technology already exists. There are also cases where an internal project was common knowledge throughout a large corporation, as well as to business partners, and even third party software developers and technical journalists. Often,companies demonstrated working prototypes to invited audiences, but made no formal announcement when they later dropped the product. In this respect, they are all vapourware\u2013 tantalising glimpses of what might have been had circumstances been different. The comparable terms \u201chardware\u201d and \u201csoftware\u201d are not pejorative, and neither are the terms \u201cfirmware\u201d, \u201cshareware\u201d or \u2018freeware\u2019. The fact that these designs haven\u2019t been tested in the marketplace doesn\u2019t mean that they have had no impact. Ideas for products, rather than products themselves can have influence far beyond that expected.<\/p>\n

Some of the hard evidence in the form of actual prototypes has long been consigned to the dustbin of history, leaving photographs as the only record. Rumours surface with no supporting evidence, and finding that evidence has often entailed arduous detective work.<\/p>\n

A history of vapourware provides an entertaining view of an alternate world, of products that could have been available, or others that were just fantasy. Was a housewife ever meant to store recipes in a 16-bit computer in 1969? The stories behind individual examples of vapourware confuse the idea of progress over time and provide an alternative history of computing, It\u2019s a story of missed opportunities over the decades, from mainframes and minicomputers, to personal computers and mobile computing, up to the present day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article has now been made available online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul Atkinson<\/a> is Professor of Design and Design History and researcher at the Art and Design Research Centre<\/a> (ADRC) at Sheffield Hallam University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Paul Atkinson is to be featured in the April edition of ICON magazine, in a six-page spread featuring examples of vapourware from Paul’s book Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware. See below for an extract: Vapourware is a term for computer products that a company announces, but doesn\u2019t put into production. This might seem a straightforward concept, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8633,"featured_media":2655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[5,343,165,129,164,158,438],"class_list":["post-2653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-art-and-design-research-centre","tag-computing","tag-design-history-research","tag-design-research","tag-paul-atkinson","tag-software","tag-vapourware"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2017\/08\/ATKINSON-2014-03-ICON-magazine.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8oFHo-GN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2633,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/paul-atkinson-oxford-university-lecture\/","url_meta":{"origin":2653,"position":0},"title":"Professor Paul Atkinson to give lecture at Oxford University on 26 November 2016","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"24\/11\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Professor Paul Atkinson has been invited to give a lecture about the research behind his book Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware to Masters students in History of Design at Oxford University on Saturday 26 November 2016. While most historical accounts of the development of computer design focus on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Front cover of Professor Paul Atkinson's 'Delete' published by Bloomsbury","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2017\/08\/ATKINSON-2016-11-Oxford-University-lecture.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2017\/08\/ATKINSON-2016-11-Oxford-University-lecture.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2017\/08\/ATKINSON-2016-11-Oxford-University-lecture.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2017\/08\/ATKINSON-2016-11-Oxford-University-lecture.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5851,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/atkinson-world-service-click\/","url_meta":{"origin":2653,"position":1},"title":"‘The computer mouse at 50’ – Professor Paul Atkinson on the BBC World Service’s Click","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"03\/01\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Professor of Design and Design History\u00a0Paul Atkinson\u00a0 was a guest on BBC World Service's Click programme on Saturday 29 December talking about the computer mouse on its 50th anniversary and how the design was developed and refined. Fifty years ago Doug Engelbart, engineer and inventor from the Augmentation Research Center\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of Paul Atkinson, an old computer mouse (from BBC World Service, Prototype of the first mouse computer presented in 1968 (invented in 1963 by Douglas C. 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Professor Paul Atkinson is Professor of Design and Design History in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Amplified: A Design History of the Electric Guitar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/02\/Amplified-Title.jpg?fit=860%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/02\/Amplified-Title.jpg?fit=860%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/02\/Amplified-Title.jpg?fit=860%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/02\/Amplified-Title.jpg?fit=860%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8657,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/heath-atkinson-cigar-box-blues-radio-sheffield\/","url_meta":{"origin":2653,"position":3},"title":"Professors Virginia Heath and Paul Atkinson speak to Radio Sheffield about ‘Cigar Box Blues – The Makers of a Revolution’ documentary","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"30\/01\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Professors Virginia Heath and Paul Atkinson have been speaking to Rony Robinson on Radio Sheffield (at 38:00) about their documentary focused on the men who make and play their own cigar box guitars. Find out more, and read interviews with both Virginia and Paul, here. Paul Atkinson\u00a0is Professor of Design\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2019-12-16 HEATH ATKINSON - Cigar Box Blues BBC (1)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/12\/2019-12-16-HEATH-ATKINSON-Cigar-Box-Blues-BBC-1-e1582538891369.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/12\/2019-12-16-HEATH-ATKINSON-Cigar-Box-Blues-BBC-1-e1582538891369.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/12\/2019-12-16-HEATH-ATKINSON-Cigar-Box-Blues-BBC-1-e1582538891369.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/12\/2019-12-16-HEATH-ATKINSON-Cigar-Box-Blues-BBC-1-e1582538891369.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/12\/2019-12-16-HEATH-ATKINSON-Cigar-Box-Blues-BBC-1-e1582538891369.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10157,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/professor-paul-atkinsons-amplified-the-design-history-of-the-electric-guitar-reviewed-by-the-wire\/","url_meta":{"origin":2653,"position":4},"title":"Professor Paul Atkinson’s ‘Amplified: The Design History of the Electric Guitar’ reviewed by The Wire","author":"Phoebe Bolton","date":"19\/05\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Hallam professor traces design history of the electric guitar in new book. Professor of Design and Design History, Paul Atkinson, has written a book about the design history and development of the electric guitar, from invention through to mass production.\u00a0 The book, 'Amplified: The Design History of the Electric Guitar'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/05\/24390b22-d17b-b30c-f02a-fd13010b5d46.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/05\/24390b22-d17b-b30c-f02a-fd13010b5d46.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/05\/24390b22-d17b-b30c-f02a-fd13010b5d46.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/05\/24390b22-d17b-b30c-f02a-fd13010b5d46.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2021\/05\/24390b22-d17b-b30c-f02a-fd13010b5d46.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7741,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/three-chords-heath-atkinson-filmfestival-munster\/","url_meta":{"origin":2653,"position":5},"title":"Professor Virginia Heath and Professor Paul Atkinson’s ‘Three Chords and the Truth’ screening in the European Short Film Competition at Filmfestival M\u00fcnster this weekend","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"19\/09\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Three Chords and the Truth\u00a0will be screening in the\u00a0European Short Film Competition\u00a0at this year\u2019s\u00a0Filmfestival M\u00fcnster in Germany later this week. 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