Re: Social Contract GR's Affect on sarge
Glenn Maynard writes:
> On Thu, Apr 29, 2004 at 10:45:13AM +0200, Andreas Metzler wrote:
>> I agree that it is impossible to partition the stuff in software and
>> data. - There _is_ a grey zone. Accepting this and trying to differ
>> betweeen "data" and "at least partially »software«" might be more
>> useful.
>
> All data is software. It is difficult to partition programs from data,
> but software is a superset of both.
Please stop this crusade to redefine "software." Its definition:
soft·ware, n. : The programs, routines, and symbolic languages that
control the functioning of the hardware and direct its operation.
(From dictionary.com; WordNet 1.6 includes "associated documentation",
but FOLDOC and others do not, and outside of Debian I have not seen
"software" used to include documentation or non-program bits.)
The entire point of the recent GR was that some Debian developers and
users use "software" as the rest of the world uses the word, and
exclude things like fonts, images, or statistical data.
Michael Poole
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