Re: Can software be stolen? (Was: Re: FAST)

On Wed, 7 Oct 1998, Thomas Workman <tworkman[_at_]erols.com> wrote:
>
> The officers tried to understand what the difference was between
> hardware and software, and I tried many times to describe it for them.
> One captain finally smiled, and announced that he understood, and could
> give others the magic of his wisdom. He announced that all you must do
> is thump it, and if it makes a ringing sound, it is hardware, and if it
> makes a dull thud, it is software (punched cards make a dull thud when
> thumped). That was close enough, and I never had the heart to "confuse"
> them again.

About twenty years ago, I heard this distinction, and it's served me well since: if you can send it over a phone line, it's software. If you can't, it's hardware.

--
Terry Carroll       | "Duke Nukem's world is made up of aliens, radio-
Santa Clara, CA     | active slime and freezer weapons--clearly fantasies,
carroll[_at_]tjc.com     | even by Los Angeles standards." - Micro Star v.
Modell delendus est | Formgen, Inc., no. 96-56433 (9th Cir. Sep 11, 1998)