The article quotes the computer industry, lecturing and talking-down to the judge, justifying the practice, saying it's inevitable, excusing it, shrugging their shoulders about it. The Journal quoted people who are using the practice, please don't miss that. I suspect they hope it will just go back to business as usual, hoping the judge won't notice that it's not just Microsoft, and it's not just vaporware. The user's needs are secondary, if they are ever really considered in more than an abstract lip-service fashion. The need to preserve their right to exist is primary.
Control is the currency.
Innovation seems to be irrelevent. Sporkin is definitely on to something. But it goes much deeper. Vaporware is just a tactic. The strategy behind vaporware is FUD, an acronym for Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.