Re: Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal
On 2003-09-24 23:12:06 +0100 Carl Witty <cwitty@newtonlabs.com> wrote:
"Software" is a controversial word in English.
"Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the
automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes." --
Monty Python's Flying Circus.
In an informal survey,
two out of two people surveyed (my officemate and myself) agreed that
we
would not, by default, call an arbitrary collection of bits "software"
That is not stronger statistical evidence than what that has gone
before. I am sorry that the people in your office do not know the
word "software" very well.
[...]
I assure you that my definition of software (roughly,
software==programs) was not adopted to "further my agenda";
I never said that it was. Do you have a different definition of the
word "some" too?
I have no idea where these different definitions of software came
from,
but I don't think it's useful to attack people who use a different
definition.
I have explained in some detail where the word "software" comes from.
I am sorry you have missed it. I suggest you look in the archives. I
believe it was under the subject "Unidentified Subject!" during the
last week. I do not know where this attempt to define it as a synonym
for "stored program" started.
I do not think it's useful to attack people who use the incorrect
definition either. Rest assured, the sword stays hanging on the wall
for now.
--
MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know.
http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef@jabber.at
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