crippleware

Shareware that either comes crippled, or self-cripples after a period of time, in an attempt to pry money from the hands of the user. Important features such as "Save", "Load" and "Print" may be absent from the crippled version, rendering the program both virtually functional and virtually useless at the same time.

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?

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.