[Reader-list] software is religion

[Menso Heus]

To take part in the 'what is software' discussion:



Software is religion. The preachers seem to understand 
little of those to whom they preach and the ones visiting 
the church understand only vaguely what the preachers 
are all about.

Software is also religion because the unbelievers'€™ question
s are far too often answered by saying that software moves 
in mysterious ways.

There are many churches scattered across the land. There is 
the Church of Windows, which looks nice but lots of the people 
visiting have trouble with the fact that bits and pieces of the 
ceiling tend to fall down and occasionally kill someone.

There'€™s the church of Linux, which looks solid, yet once inse 
one discovers a 100 different priests all claiming to be the best
and besides that, the place could do with a good cleaning too.

There'€™s probably a church for every application or operating syste
ever made and it'€™believers are as fanatic in most cases as those of 
everyday life religions.
It has another thing in common with normal religions too, which is that 
it never seems to fully satisfies our needs.

Software is religion because people expect miracles and the priests are 
unable to deliver (yet when it'€™s time to collect money to support th
e church, the miracle gets sold quickly with lots of extras).

Software is religion because there'€™s the promise that if we use it '€™l
become a better person.

Software is religion because it comes with Bibles that explain it all 
to us.
 
Software is religion because it will always stay a mystery to the masses 
and there will always be questions it cannot answer.
 -- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something
about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is
purely destructive. We've created life in our own image - Stephen Hawking
--------------------------------------------------------------------------