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Walk like a man, talk like a user

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A new version of Adobe Flash was just installed on one of my computers. That’s cool, but I was a bit annoyed when it told me I can use the new version when I “restart your system”.

System?

That’s nothing. Microsoft are much worse. Every once in a while you’ll find a Microsoft dialog referring to your “machine”.

Machine?

Why not just call it a “computer” like the poor sod sitting on the other end of the keyboard does. “System” and “machine” aren’t even specific technical terms (no more so than “computer” anyway), they are just jargon. Techie-talk.

And don’t get me started about “content”…

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 10, 2009
    So for example, I have just installed updates on my Vista machine. The message I see is "Please do not power off or unplug your machine." "Power off"? "Machine"? Shanemo