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} {standard}s, 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}]