5 ms·

Look, the industry has settled on the term "serverless" to mean: "You just upload some application code and the system automatically provisions servers to run i

Look, the industry has settled on the term "serverless" to mean: "You just upload some application code and the system automatically provisions servers to run it." No one has the power to change this. It's like saying "I think the word 'spoon' is stupid, let's all call it 'scooper' instead." This is our language now, it is what it is. Vendors offering serverless solutions have to call it "serverless" whether they like it or not because that's the word customers understand. You can keep complaining about it, but it won't change. You might as well accept it and move on. "Cloud" is a stupid term too, your servers aren't really floating in the sky. But here we are.

adolph 6y ago
<something>“less” has been in use for a long time and typically means a paradigm shift in how the <something> is performed. Horseless carriages still had means of locomotion; driverless cars will still have a means of effecting driver functions; eggless recipes typically have some other substance to perform the job of eggs. In my mind <something>”less” is not as objectionable as <something>”-free” like “sugar-free” which isn’t to say that something isn’t sweet, but that the sweetening comes from something else.
- vinay_ys 6y ago
  whereas "sugarless" means its not sweet :)
  - leeoniya 6y ago
    but "sugar-free" means it's sweet again
pjc50 6y ago
If only somebody would come up with a Common Interface for application Gateways that would let the webserver dynamically select based on URL routing which executable to provision temporarily to generate that page.
- scrollaway 6y ago
  CGI is in no way more understandable than serverless as a concept, especially when it shares its acronym with the very popular computer generated imagery.
  - recursive 6y ago
    At least it's not made out of an English language construction which is actually just wrong.
    - scrollaway 6y ago
      The english language has a bazillion "wrong" constructions. What is this, kindergarten? Serverless clearly has gotten a specific meaning in the industry, which means "without manually spinning up servers".
      - recursive 6y ago
        > The english language has a bazillion "wrong" constructions. Sometimes I complain about some of those too. Personally, I'm looking forward to the next loop around, when the concept is rediscovered again. It will need a new name. Unfortunately, that's probably going to be 20 or 30 years.
      - chalst 6y ago
        It's jargon used by part of the industry. It's not like the usual irregularities of natural language. There's no need to encourage its wider adoption.
      - coliveira 6y ago
        And this is how the English language has become what it is. If someone politely points out that the use of a word is incorrect, instead of thanking and correcting themselves, people just shrug and say: "it is what it is" and continue to spread the incorrect usage. I even wonder why bother with grammar in a language like this.
mwcampbell 6y ago
I think the idea is that if enough of us push back, then people will stop using that term. After all, "the industry" is made up of people whose minds we can attempt to change.
- kentonv 6y ago
  And I'm telling you that idea is not remotely realistic. Sorry.
  - recursive 6y ago
    Then it's similarly unrealistic to expect that some fraction of people who are familiar with English won't continue to complain about it.
- pdimitar 6y ago
  The "industry" is comprised of much more than techies -- there are millions of marketing people out there who get hyped up at the shallowest sounding buzzword and we absolutely never will out-shout them. Nor do customers who love buzzwords.
  - ben_w 6y ago
    Buzzwords can be fickle things. “Wireless” used to mean radio. Who calls the internet “the information superhighway” anymore? “Computer” used to be a job title. How many job ads capitalise “PC/MAC” even though it’s a contraction of Macintosh and not an initialism like Personal Computer is? The first “tablet” I bought was a Wacom — an accessory, not a computer in its own right. When did we stop calling pocket computers “PDAs”?
    - recursive 6y ago
      "Digital" used to mean something that related to fingers or toes. Then it meant "electronic". Now it means "distributed via network instead of physical medium", even though it's the first "D" in "DVD".
  - 6y ago

adolph 6y ago

<something>“less” has been in use for a long time and typically means a paradigm shift in how the <something> is performed. Horseless carriages still had means of locomotion; driverless cars will still have a means of effecting driver functions; eggless recipes typically have some other substance to perform the job of eggs. In my mind <something>”less” is not as objectionable as <something>”-free” like “sugar-free” which isn’t to say that something isn’t sweet, but that the sweetening comes from something else.

vinay_ys 6y ago
whereas "sugarless" means its not sweet :)
- leeoniya 6y ago
  but "sugar-free" means it's sweet again

pjc50 6y ago

If only somebody would come up with a Common Interface for application Gateways that would let the webserver dynamically select based on URL routing which executable to provision temporarily to generate that page.

scrollaway 6y ago
CGI is in no way more understandable than serverless as a concept, especially when it shares its acronym with the very popular computer generated imagery.
- recursive 6y ago
  At least it's not made out of an English language construction which is actually just wrong.
  - scrollaway 6y ago
    The english language has a bazillion "wrong" constructions. What is this, kindergarten? Serverless clearly has gotten a specific meaning in the industry, which means "without manually spinning up servers".
    - recursive 6y ago
      > The english language has a bazillion "wrong" constructions. Sometimes I complain about some of those too. Personally, I'm looking forward to the next loop around, when the concept is rediscovered again. It will need a new name. Unfortunately, that's probably going to be 20 or 30 years.
    - chalst 6y ago
      It's jargon used by part of the industry. It's not like the usual irregularities of natural language. There's no need to encourage its wider adoption.
    - coliveira 6y ago
      And this is how the English language has become what it is. If someone politely points out that the use of a word is incorrect, instead of thanking and correcting themselves, people just shrug and say: "it is what it is" and continue to spread the incorrect usage. I even wonder why bother with grammar in a language like this.

mwcampbell 6y ago

I think the idea is that if enough of us push back, then people will stop using that term. After all, "the industry" is made up of people whose minds we can attempt to change.

kentonv 6y ago
And I'm telling you that idea is not remotely realistic. Sorry.
- recursive 6y ago
  Then it's similarly unrealistic to expect that some fraction of people who are familiar with English won't continue to complain about it.
pdimitar 6y ago
The "industry" is comprised of much more than techies -- there are millions of marketing people out there who get hyped up at the shallowest sounding buzzword and we absolutely never will out-shout them. Nor do customers who love buzzwords.
- ben_w 6y ago
  Buzzwords can be fickle things. “Wireless” used to mean radio. Who calls the internet “the information superhighway” anymore? “Computer” used to be a job title. How many job ads capitalise “PC/MAC” even though it’s a contraction of Macintosh and not an initialism like Personal Computer is? The first “tablet” I bought was a Wacom — an accessory, not a computer in its own right. When did we stop calling pocket computers “PDAs”?
  - recursive 6y ago
    "Digital" used to mean something that related to fingers or toes. Then it meant "electronic". Now it means "distributed via network instead of physical medium", even though it's the first "D" in "DVD".
- 6y ago