{{short description|Term to describe non-interactive websites}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{use American English|date=November 2020}} '''Brochureware''' was a term used to describe "simply listing products and services on a Web site."<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/29/business/business-to-business-to-put-ge-online-meant-putting-a-dozen-industries-online.html |title=To Put G.E. Online Meant Putting a Dozen Industries Online |author=Douglas Frantz |date=March 29, 2000}}</ref> To emphasize what's lacking, ''Advertising Age'' referred to "static brochureware"<ref name=StaticBro.AA97>{{cite news |newspaper=Advertising Age |url=https://adage.com/article/btob/companies-redesigns-drive-net-leads/246741 |title=More companies look to redesigns to drive Net leads |date=June 1, 1997}}</ref> – it just stands there and "is little more than a brochure."<ref name=SameDayPutdown.NYT2000/>
==Overview== ''The New York Times'' wrote that it's "not the kindest of terms."<ref name=SameDayPutdown.NYT2000>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/technology/29talk.html |title=Myms, Pings and Vortals |author1=David Kirby |author2=Henry Fountain |date=March 29, 2000}}</ref> IBM's initial online annual report was "standard brochureware: sticking the print annual report on the Web;" the third year they made it "easy to navigate" and added features to enable viewers to "create charts slicing the company's figures any number of bean-counting ways."<ref name=DigiPaper.NYT1997>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://movies2.nytimes.com/library/cyber/digimet/042897digimet.html |title=Measuring Growth of Annual Reports Online |author=Pamela Mendels |date=April 28, 1997}}</ref> In 1999 ''The Economist'' referred to "stodgily designed billboards, known in the business as ''brochureware'' which do little more than ..."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/special-report/1999/06/24/the-net-imperative |title=Business and the Internet: The net imperative |date=June 24, 1999}}</ref> Pre-Y2K political websites were described as "bland brochureware."<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-28-mn-36961-story.html |title=Internet's Role in Campaigns Still Limited |date=October 28, 1998}}</ref>
==History== 'Get us on the internet'<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-0-7180-3180-0 |title=The Lost Books Collection |quote=You need to get us on the Net. |author=Ted Dekker |year=2014}}</ref> was the mandate at a time when low dial-up speeds<ref name=IDT1994IPL.Inews>"IDT first offered dial-up services in 1994."{{cite web |url=http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/article.php/126921/IDT+Launches+Prepaid+Bilingual+Internet+Service.htm |title=IDT Launches Prepaid Bilingual Internet Service |author=Patricia Fusco |date=May 25, 1999}}</ref> did not allow much use of computer graphics, and interactive features were minimal. "They put us on the internet" was a praiseworthy accomplishment.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1997/08/27/take-your-appetite-to-sperryville/507cb6d9-5a3a-4de5-8cc4-c31877be6af0 |title=Take your appetite to Sperryville |quote='They put us on the Internet, and now we have ...' |date=August 27, 1997}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://pioneer.cooper.edu/2015/12/07/faces-cooper-professor-jeff-hakner |title=Faces of Cooper: Professor Jeff Hakner |quote=One of my first .. was to get us on the internet. |date=December 7, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/archive/ethics/samuels.html |title=Cynthia Samuels—Ethics of the Internet Presentation |quote=.. shortly after I put us on the net in 1994.}}</ref>
Even after Y2K it was considered news to headline "Toyota Elevating Its Site From Brochureware."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=InformationWeek |url=https://www.informationweek.com/toyota-elevating-its-site-from-brochureware/d/d-id/1009081?piddl_msgorder=asc |title=Toyota Elevating Its Site From Brochureware |date=September 6, 2000}}</ref> Technology was not the only obstacle. In 1997, it was still the case that "Federal financial disclosure regulations still favor paper over electrons"<ref name=DigiPaper.NYT1997/> (something not scheduled to be remedied by SEC rule changes until 2021).<ref>VanGuard, 042020</ref> Even brochureware was not that simple: "brochureware that works in multiple languages" was needed.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Computerworld |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2590310/what-to-expect-when-going-global-online.html |title=What to expect when going global online}}</ref>
The computer industry's trade shows were described as hype, crowds, and "bags of brochureware."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Computerworld |url=http://www2.computerworld.co.nz/article/508149/glory_comdex |title=The glory that was Comdex}}</ref> Concurrently, half of the advertising field's top 10 agencies were shoeless shoemakers, and ''Advertising Age'' wrote: "Three of the top agencies have pages that boast a full site will be coming…"<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Advertising Age |url=https://adage.com/article/news/interactive-brochureware-dominates-survey-agency-sites-web-shops-gain-a-strong-site-traditional-counterparts/66662 |title=Interactive: Brochure dominates in survey}}</ref>
==xWare== Earlier than ''brochureware'' was the use of the word ''vaporware''. Based on an alleged 1982 coining of the word following Ann Winblad's investigating Microsoft Xenix's non-future,<ref name=WinbladVaporW.Lec>{{cite web |url=https://people.engr.ncsu.edu/efg/379/sum02/lectures/wk07/lecture.html |title=Lecture 7: Anticompetitive practices}}</ref> Esther Dyson publicized the word in 1983: the first time it appeared in print. By 1985, ''Computerworld'' used the word in a survey.<ref name=WinbladVaporW.Lec/> A still earlier ''xWare''-related word is ''FUD: Fear, uncertainty, and doubt''.<ref name="Clothes_1975">{{cite journal |journal=Clothes |page=19 |title=The search for self |volume=10 |issue=14–24 |publisher=PRADS, Inc. |location=New York, NY, USA |date=October 1, 1975 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8XxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22One+of+the+messages+dealt+with+is+FUD%E2%80%94the+fear%2C+uncertainty+and+doubt+on+the+part+of+customer+and+sales+person+alike+that+stifles+the+approach+and+greeting.%22 |access-date=June 10, 2011 |quote=[…] One of the messages dealt with is FUD—the fear, uncertainty and doubt on the part of customer and sales person alike that stifles the approach and greeting. […]}}</ref>
''Shelfware'' is a computer-industry term still in use.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=InformationWeek |url=https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/it-strategy/why-you-cant-afford-to-ignore-software-asset-management/a/d-id/1334598 |title=Why You Can't Afford to Ignore Software Asset Management |quote=unused 'shelfware' that cuts into the bottom line |date=May 7, 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|31em}}
Category:Business terms Category:Vaporware