Baitware

What Does Baitware Mean?

Baitware is a freely available software utility with very limited functionality. Often poorly coded, baitware allows a software developer to release a limited software version to lure target users into buying the full software version.

Techopedia Explains Baitware

Baitware is a type of freeware, shareware or liteware with much lower quality and functionality than its full software counterpart. As with other types of freeware, vendors and developers target and "bait" end users with baitware versions of software. After downloading, installing and using the baitware version, the user is enticed into purchasing the paid version.

Baitware is also used by email spammers that distribute free software in exchange for email addresses.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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