In the technology industry, being buzzward compliant means that a particular product supports features that are currently in vogue. Examples would include client-server products in the early 1990s, CORBA and COM based programs in the mid-90's, Java-based programs in the late 90's, and web services today.

Buzzward compliance is a modern version of the old practice of being checkbox compliant; making sure that a product gets a check in all the common feature lists in reviews in computer magazines. Today most software is sold as custom development or to venture capitalists, so the marketing is aimed at other technical staff (typically middle management of the technical staff) as opposed to consumers reading reviews. For these reviewers, many of them only semi-literate in technical terms, the use of buzzwords makes a product sound more interesting.