critical mass
In physics, the minimum amount of fissionable material
required to sustain a chain reaction. Of a software product,
describes a condition of the software such that fixing one bug
introduces one plus {epsilon} bugs. (This malady has many
causes: {creeping featurism}, ports to too many disparate
environments, poor initial design, etc.) When software
achieves critical mass, it can never be fixed; it can only be
discarded and rewritten.
[{Jargon File}]
(1994-12-23)