JargonFile/entries/crippleware.txt
2014-04-26 16:54:15 +01:00

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crippleware
n. 1. [common] Software that has some important functionality deliberately
removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a working version. 2.
[Cambridge] Variety of guiltware that exhorts you to donate to some charity
(compare careware , nagware ). 3. Hardware deliberately crippled, which can
be upgraded to a more expensive model by a trivial change (e.g., cutting a
jumper). An excellent example of crippleware (sense 3) is Intel's 486SX
chip, which is a standard 486DX chip with the co-processor diked out (in
some early versions it was present but disabled). To upgrade, you buy a
complete 486DX chip with working co-processor (its identity thinly veiled by
a different pinout) and plug it into the board's expansion socket. It then
disables the SX, which becomes a fancy power sink.