crippleware
: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?
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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