From the idea that these programs rudely elbow others out of their way.
all elbows (not comparable)
- (computing, dated) of a program that steals whatever resources it needs without consideration for other tasks.
1995 October 12, Randy Reames, “MFJ-1278 Software?”, in rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc[1] (Usenet):Multicom goes beyond lame. It's about the worst example of
an 'all elbows' 1984 vintage DOS program that I've seen in
a long time. Yuk!
1998 December 20, Iain Georgeson, “Boot sector woes”, in alt.dur.general[2] (Usenet):It /will/ nuke NT's loader, but that's because NT is all
elbows when it comes to booting.
2002 March 22, Dowe Keller, “Hardest Mistake in Comp Arch to Fix”, in alt.folklore.computers[3] (Usenet):Amen, even more than most games poor `all elbows' behavior, modern
games are generally boring to the extreme.