RE: log vs login

[Robert Heath <rheath -at- eGain -dot- com>]

Sorry, Katie, but my company calls it the Login screen, not the Log In
screen. The verb "log" by itself does not have the same meaning as the
phrasal verb "log in," just as the verb "set" has a meaning different from
"set up."

For what it's worth, the MS dictionary defines login as "the process of
identifying oneself to a computer after connecting to it over a
communications line." According to my American Heritage Dictionary, "log"
has a range or meanings, none of which apply directly to computers.

--Robert

<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>
Publications Specialist 
eGain Communications Corp.
rheath -at- egain -dot- com

GOOD, adj.  Sensible, madam, to the worth of this present writer.  
Alive, sir, to the advantages of letting him alone.
          --Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Katie Crowley Rosenberg [mailto:krosenbe -at- easysystemsinc -dot- com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 8:08 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: log vs login
> 
> 
> Okay, I know it's language use, but it's driving me crazy. 
> Does everyone use Login or Logon as the title of the Log In Screen?
> 
> The developers here argue that: 1) everyone does it and 2) if 
> "set up" is the verb and "setup" is the noun, then "log in" 
> is the verb and "login" is the noun.
> 
> My argument is that 1) multiple wrongs don't make a right and 
> 2) "set up" is the verb and "setup" is the noun, but "log in" 
> is always a verb and "log" is the noun.
> 
> It's a picayune point, but I'd sure like some backup. Does 
> anybody out there agree with me, or am I sailing solo here? 
> Please respond to my e-mail address and I'll gladly post a summary.
> 
> Katie Crowley Rosenberg
> Techwriter
> Easy Systems, Inc.
> krosenbe -at- easysystemsinc -dot- com