from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
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.
Don't you love Intel?
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
crippleware
1. Software that has some important functionality deliberately
removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a working
version.
2. (Cambridge) {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. removing a
jumper). A correspondant gave the following example:
In 1982-5, a friend had a {Sharp} {scientific calculator}
which was on the list of those permitted in exams. No
programmable calculators were allowed.
A very similar, more expensive, programmable model had two
extra keys for programming where the cheaper version just had
blank metal.
My friend took his calculator apart (as you would) and lo and
behold, the rubber switches of the program keys were there on
the circuit board. So all he had to do was cut a hole in the
face. For exams he would pre-load the calculator with any
useful routines, put a sticker with his name on it over the
hole, and press the buttons through the sticker with a pen.
[{Jargon File}]
(2001-05-12)