[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) a tapoté : > Carl Witty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > >> "Software" is not a controversial word in English (roughly inverse of > >> "hardware" in one sense). Some people advocate a bizarre definition of > >> it in order to further their agenda. If you're going to define common > >> words just because someone objects to the normal meaning being used, > >> you'll get some bozo that objects to the word "social" and claims it > >> only applies to the welfare state. That's clearly ungood. > > > > "Software" is a controversial word in English. 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" > > (the particular example in the survey question was "an MP3 file"); but > > that we would agree to use a different definition of software than the > > one we are accustomed to in certain contexts. > > But your question, "Is this MP3 file software?" is itself biased. > Consider the alternatives: > > 1. "Is this MP3 file software or hardware?"
This is one is definitely worse: you explicitely point out which definition of the word software you think is the most usual, by asking to refer to this definition. -- Mathieu Roy Homepage: http://yeupou.coleumes.org Not a native english speaker: http://stock.coleumes.org/doc.php?i=/misc-files/flawed-english