3 ms·
This battle gets fought and lost repeatedly. Words mean what the majority want them to mean. Hacker used to mean programmer, but not any more. Computer means
by rootusrootus 6y ago
This battle gets fought and lost repeatedly. Words mean what the majority want them to mean. Hacker used to mean programmer, but not any more. Computer means that thing you sit down at with a keyboard, mouse, and big screen, and do word processing/e-mail/etc with.
Saying that the only real 'computers' are generic beige boxes that can run any old OS is just gatekeeping, and basically irrelevant. That's not what the word computer means to most people.
- randrews 6y ago"I'd like to buy a drill." "Here you go!" "This is... A board with a hole in it? I want a drill." "This is better for regular people: the hole already exists, you can screw things right to it." "Yes, but I want to drill several holes in my wall. I don't want a brand new board with a single hole, I want a drill to make holes." "Most people, when they say they want a drill, really actually mean they want a hole. So we call these hole-boards drills now." "But it's not what it means. I want an actual drill." "Ugh, why all the gatekeeping, it's irrelevant, just buy this 'drill.'"