Re: Anthropomorphosis

Subject: Re: Anthropomorphosis
From: Tim Covil <covil_t -at- WIZTEC-USA -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 10:05:52 -0400

Not anthropomorphic at all, IMHO. But would "search" have been anthro
two decades ago? Probably. We hadn't been exposed to modern word
processing with its "find" and "replace" features. But today the
"search" references in software are part of the mainstream, and we as a
culture have developed a higher understanding of software processes

Of course, I'd be interested to read alternatives anyone might suggest.

>> > > I wrote "When you enter a word or phrase in one of the fields,
>> > > the system will search for exact matches." What is wrong with this
>>phrase[?]
>> > > It sort of gives the system a personality then, but what makes that a
>>bad thing?
>
>> > In my opinion, this is not anthropomorphic at all. You're not saying
>> > 'the system will be happy' or 'this makes the computer feel useful'.
>
>> Many PROGRAMMERS do this because they really, honestly, truly, believe
>> that computers ARE HUMAN.
>
>I don't know if that's really the reason or if it's just mental
>shorthand, but you do hear things like "this program _expects_ to_ find_
>it's_ DLLs in the .\DLL directory," and "that program _wants_ to_ see_
>EPS files, not BMP files."
>
>Clearly anthropomorphic -- but sometimes it's more important to go with
>the "clearly" than to avoid the "anthropomorphic."
>
>Regards,
>
>--
>Scott Herron | sherr19 -at- idt -dot- net
>
>That "deep thoughts" bit at the bottom.
>
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