1. misfeature
[common] A feature that eventually causes lossage, possibly because it is
not adequate for a new situation that has evolved. Since it results from a
deliberate and properly implemented feature, a misfeature is not a bug.
Nor is it a simple unforeseen side effect; the term implies that the
feature in question was carefully planned, but its long-term consequences
were not accurately or adequately predicted (which is quite different from
not having thought ahead at all). A misfeature can be a particularly
stubborn problem to resolve, because fixing it usually involves a
substantial philosophical change to the structure of the system
involved.Many misfeatures (especially in user-interface design) arise because
the designers/implementors mistake their personal tastes for laws of
nature. Often a former feature becomes a misfeature because trade-offs
were made whose parameters subsequently change (possibly only in the
judgment of the implementors). “Well, yeah, it is kind of a
misfeature that file names are limited to six characters, but the original
implementors wanted to save directory space and we're stuck with it for
now.”
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Definitions of misfeature
