Jankware (noun)
/ˈdʒæŋkˌwɛər/
Definition:
An eldritch artifact disguised as software—code so unstable it feels sentient, malicious, and resentful of being executed. Jankware doesn’t crash; it lashes out. It punishes confidence. It tempts sysadmins with false positives, then feasts on production environments in the dead of night. It's the reason backup plans drink.
Born of unpaid interns, unmanaged tech debt, and the haunted remnants of a long-defunded project, jankware lingers in enterprise environments like a ghost chained to a fax machine.
Known behaviours:
GUI elements rearrange themselves mid-click
Installs correctly on exactly one machine, never again
Logs are written in Wingdings
Licensing requires a ritual and the last four digits of your hope
/ˈdʒæŋkˌwɛər/
Definition:
An eldritch artifact disguised as software—code so unstable it feels sentient, malicious, and resentful of being executed. Jankware doesn’t crash; it lashes out. It punishes confidence. It tempts sysadmins with false positives, then feasts on production environments in the dead of night. It's the reason backup plans drink.
Born of unpaid interns, unmanaged tech debt, and the haunted remnants of a long-defunded project, jankware lingers in enterprise environments like a ghost chained to a fax machine.
Known behaviours:
GUI elements rearrange themselves mid-click
Installs correctly on exactly one machine, never again
Logs are written in Wingdings
Licensing requires a ritual and the last four digits of your hope
“We deployed the patch, but it was jankware... now the ERP system believes it’s 1998 and keeps sending cheques to RadioShack.”
by Ximun April 30, 2025