proprietary

1. In marketroid-speak, superior; implies a product imbued

with exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the

company's own hardware or software designers.

2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior; implies a

product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus

one that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor who can

inflate service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has

locked the customer in.

[Jargon File]