Talk:proprietary

Computing Science definition, and proprietary lake
Adjective 4 - 'proprietary lake, in English seems to be definitely slightly wrong. To say you had a proprietary lake would imply that you own a particular type of lake - and have rights over every lake of that type. In English until recently the word was largely seen as legalese and obsolete, and only came back into common usage through computing terminology.

Here is my Computer Science definition. Proprietary generally means a custom format (idea, device, protocol, solution, algorithm) that is restricted in use and usually closed box and usually restricted to one manufacturer. Proprietary formats are often secret and highly secretive, and they are often only protected by keeping their secrets secure. Examples of modern proprietary format systems - the Sony P.S.P. handheld console, The Microsoft Windows XP operating system, ?. The obverse of 'proprietary' is 'generic' or open source. Antonyms might include 'closed source', 'black box', ?. - Robert Lucien 86.133.44.134 00:00, 8 May 2008 (UTC) (sorry I have no acc here, I am lucien86 on Wikipedia)


 * How is this not covered by the more general senses given? Conrad.Irwin 00:01, 8 May 2008 (UTC)


 * It probably is more or less, but the word and its modern usage is definitely specific to computing as well. Even if it was only invented (taken) as a cool sounding marketing term.
 * My real interest is in its use in lake. ?
 * - Robert Lucien 86.133.44.134 00:13, 8 May 2008 (UTC)


 * It's not specific to computers, I'll find a few more cites and put the on the Citations page. It is certainly true that on the internet people mainly refer to computers - but that's 'cos it's the internet. I've already added one cite showing this being used as "privately owned". Conrad.Irwin 00:36, 8 May 2008 (UTC)