IBM has long had the habit of jacking up acronyms to put new interpretations under them. The impetus has usually been to replace the notionally too particular and limiting with something more generic and innocuous for marketing reasons. Thus,
structured programming facility ==> system productivity facility. This practice is perhaps a sin against good language: it dilutes precision; but it does not strike me as reprehensible. IBM's concern to protect its sometimes considerable investments in existing acronyms is entirely understandable. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
