Evil
As used by a
hacker, implies that some system, program, person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not worth the bother of dealing with.
Unlike the adjectives in the cretinous,
losing,
brain-damaged series, "evil" does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's.
This usage is more an aesthetic and engineering judgment than a moral one in the mainstream sense.
"We thought about adding a
Blue Glue interface but decided it was too evil to deal with."
"
TECO is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos."
Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/.
Compare
evil and rude.
[
Jargon File]
