2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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proprietary
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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adj. 1. In marketroid -speak, superior; implies a product imbued with
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exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the company's own hardware or
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software designers. 2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior;
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implies a product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one
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that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor able to gouge freely on
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service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer
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in. Often used in the phrase proprietary crap. 3. Synonym for closed-source
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or non-free, e.g. software issued without license rights permitting the
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public to independently review, develop and redistribute it. Proprietary
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software should be distinguished from commercial software. It is possible
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for software to be commercial (that is, intended to make a profit for the
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producers) without being proprietary. The reverse is also possible, for
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example in binary-only freeware.
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