This misses my point completely. My point is that the term 'software engineering' is not meant to denote a type of engineering. It may include engineering as a

This misses my point completely. My point is that the term 'software engineering' is not meant to denote a type of engineering. It may include engineering as a loose metaphor, but the term 'software engineering' stands alone as a word in itself, with its own meaning, and that meaning is obvious to anyone who is or works with software engineers. More analogies: Should we not have software architecture, because it isn't real architecture? Should we not refer to systems programming, unless the practitioner has studied systems theory? Should we not have windowing systems, because no real windows are involved? Almost everything in computing is termed by metaphor with 'real' things.