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.
3. Hardware deliberately crippled, which can be upgraded to a more expensive model by a trivial change (e.g. removing a jumper).
An excellent example of this last sense of crippleware is Intel's 486SX chip (see Intel 486), which is a standard Intel 486DX with the co-processor dyked 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?
(02 May 1995)