Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/16/19 9:20 AM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

Well it's not used that way now.* If Mr Smith is executed, he's gone to
the electric chair.

"Gas kills best." -- this message brought to you by your gas company :-)

On 5/16/19 11:24 AM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

It doesn't surprise me Apple has something to do with it.* They've
****ed computing up for decades.

"I REALLY don't want an iPhone" - the first thing I thought when seeing
the desktop of Windows 8

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Freedom begins between the ears."

"Peter Percival" wrote:
Apd wrote:
When I started programming in the 70s we wrote computer programs. I
don't remember when or why "application" became popular. It sounds
like a poultice you apply to an infected wound. So, yes, I prefer
"program".

In my day there were (at least) two varieties of program: systems
programs such as compilers and what-have-you, and applications programs
such as accounting software.

Of course. I knew that all along but it had slipped my mind (the
trouble with getting old). App is short for application which is short
for application program. Where I started we had no systems programmers
and didn't use that terminology.

On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:42:07 +0200, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, Carlos E.
R. wrote:

On 16/05/2019 18.39, nospam wrote:
In article , Peter Johnson
wrote:

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)

false.

both the term application and its shortened version app existed long
before apple.

I never heard it before smartphones. I don't have any apple, so I don't
know if it was used there.

I had a Zip disk called "Mighty Disk of Apps" that I brought into new
offices with me. The fact that it was a 100MB Zip disk should tell you
around when that was.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

"Mark Lloyd" wrote:
On 5/15/19 6:06 PM, Apd wrote:
When I started programming in the 70s we wrote computer programs. I
don't remember when or why "application" became popular. It sounds
like a poultice you apply to an infected wound. So, yes, I prefer
"program".

I like "program" too. I think of "app" as something you don't actually
have (someone else in in control, of both the code and "your" data).

Interesting view. I only use "app" in the context of phones because
that's what everyone understands.

Also, directories are directories NOT "folders". A folder is a crude
cardboard container for papers, that has to be handled carefully of else
you get an unsorted mess on the floor.

All part of the "desktop" metaphor I suppose, but then we have files
in folders and I thought files (in an office sense) were folders.
Where do files/folders live? - usually in a filing cabinet but we
don't call the hard disk that. I too prefer directories.

On 16/05/2019 19.46, Zaghadka wrote:
On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:42:07 +0200, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, Carlos E.
R. wrote:

On 16/05/2019 18.39, nospam wrote:
In article , Peter Johnson
wrote:

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)

false.

both the term application and its shortened version app existed long
before apple.

I never heard it before smartphones. I don't have any apple, so I don't
know if it was used there.

I had a Zip disk called "Mighty Disk of Apps" that I brought into new
offices with me. The fact that it was a 100MB Zip disk should tell you
around when that was.

LOL, yes :-D

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On Thu, 16 May 2019 16:04:00 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

[snip]

I don't mind "application", but using only the first syllable is ridiculous.

It is nice and short. When combined with other terms, it keeps
things short. I also say "CPU" instead of "Central Processing Unit",
"dir" instead of "directory", etc.

Imagine if we only used the first syllable in everything:

Good morn, nice weth we have to. I'm go to do some gar.
^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^
I start by weed the flow beds.
^^^^ ^^^^
Thirteen of the twenty words have one syllable anyway.
Of the remaining seven, only "gar" is at all difficult to figure
out, and it was still easy.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:42:07 +0200, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

On 16/05/2019 18.39, nospam wrote:
In article , Peter Johnson
wrote:

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)

false.

both the term application and its shortened version app existed long
before apple.

I never heard it before smartphones. I don't have any apple, so I don't
know if it was used there.

It definitely was used before smartphones. I first encountered
it in the early 1980s in the context of the term "killer app".

I can not say for sure about the term's use before Apple, but it
sounds reasonable. Note that the term I encountered was "killer app",
and it was instantly understandable. (Only later did I encounter
"app" on its own.)

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:16:10 +0100, Sam E wrote:

On 5/16/19 8:30 AM, slate_leeper wrote:
On Wed, 15 May 2019 20:14:30 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?


We used to call those who wrote programs "programmers." What do we
call those who write apps, "applicators?"

-dan z-

"Applicators" sounds like it could be those who use a lot of sunscreen.

The biggest con ever. Apply stuff to your skin so it can't get used to the thing it's protecting you against, so you buy more. Get a real tan, don't use sunscreen.

On 16/05/2019 20.22, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:42:07 +0200, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

On 16/05/2019 18.39, nospam wrote:
In article , Peter Johnson
wrote:

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)

false.

both the term application and its shortened version app existed long
before apple.

I never heard it before smartphones. I don't have any apple, so I don't
know if it was used there.

It definitely was used before smartphones. I first encountered
it in the early 1980s in the context of the term "killer app".

I can not say for sure about the term's use before Apple, but it
sounds reasonable. Note that the term I encountered was "killer app",
and it was instantly understandable. (Only later did I encounter
"app" on its own.)

I remember that "killer app" thing, but not till the 90's at least. But
then there was no internet, so terms travelled slower.


--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:19:15 +0100, hah wrote:

On 5/16/19 9:20 AM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

Well it's not used that way now. If Mr Smith is executed, he's gone to
the electric chair.

"Gas kills best." -- this message brought to you by your gas company :-)

I liked gas when it was used in the dentist instead of those ****ing needles!

On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:25:18 +0100, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 5/16/19 11:24 AM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

It doesn't surprise me Apple has something to do with it. They've
****ed computing up for decades.

"I REALLY don't want an iPhone" - the first thing I thought when seeing
the desktop of Windows 8

Indeed.

On Thu, 16 May 2019 19:16:08 +0100, Gene Wirchenko wrote:

On Thu, 16 May 2019 16:04:00 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

[snip]

I don't mind "application", but using only the first syllable is ridiculous.

It is nice and short. When combined with other terms, it keeps
things short. I also say "CPU" instead of "Central Processing Unit",
"dir" instead of "directory", etc.

I say "processor" and "folder".

Imagine if we only used the first syllable in everything:

Good morn, nice weth we have to. I'm go to do some gar.
^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^
I start by weed the flow beds.
^^^^ ^^^^
Thirteen of the twenty words have one syllable anyway.
Of the remaining seven, only "gar" is at all difficult to figure
out, and it was still easy.

So why don't we all talk like that?

Humans are lazy!

In alt.comp.os.windows-10 Commander Kinsey wrote:
I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?

--
Quote of the Week: "I have to sit up with a sick ant." --unknown
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org /
/ /\ /\ \ http://antfarm.ma.cx. Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On 16/05/2019 20.29, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:19:15 +0100, hah
wrote:

On 5/16/19 9:20 AM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

Well it's not used that way now.* If Mr Smith is executed, he's gone to
the electric chair.

"Gas kills best." -- this message brought to you by your gas company :-)

I liked gas when it was used in the dentist instead of those ****ing
needles!

They don't use gas here. I have never seen it. Only recently heard a
commercial on the radio of a site that might be using it because of what
they described. Or maybe it is a strong sedative in advance.

Here dentists use a touch anaesthetic before driving in the needle, so
we don't feel it.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.