proprietary
Noun · AdjectiveWordNet 3.0
Noun (1)
- an unincorporated business owned by a single person who is responsible for its liabilities and entitled to its profitsSynonyms: proprietorship
Adjective (1)
- protected by trademark or patent or copyright; made or produced or distributed by one having exclusive rights“`Tylenol' is a proprietary drug of which `acetaminophen' is the generic form”
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.A proprietor or owner; one who has exclusive title to a thing; one who possesses, or holds the title to, a thing in his own right. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
2.A body proprietors, taken collectively. [1913 Webster]
3.(Eccl.) A monk who had reserved goods and effects to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession. [1913 Webster]
Proprietary articles, manufactured articles which some person or persons have exclusive right to make and sell. --U. S. Statutes. [1913 Webster]
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
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]
The Jargon File
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 able to gouge freely on service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer in. Often used in the phrase “proprietary crap”.
3.Synonym for closed-source or non-free, e.g. software issued without license rights permitting the public to independently review, develop and redistribute it.
Proprietary software should be distinguished from commercial software. It is possible for software to be commercial (that is, intended to make a profit for the producers) without being proprietary. The reverse is also possible, for example in binary-only freeware.