The Ten Most Abused Words in Tech
This is not a Letterman-style Top Ten list. This topic deserves more serious attention than a mildly humorous rundown.…

Most of the guilt for these abuses lies squarely on marketers. These are the people whose very livelihoods depend on the ability to "create unmet needs." If that phrase doesn't make you shudder, then you're probably in marketing or PR. It's not that I consider the profession an evil one, but the need to communicate complex technologies has often forced some marketing and public relations people to come up with new and exciting ways to abuse the English language.

In response, I've compiled a list of the ten most abused words in the tech industry. This list, by the way, is in no particular order -- though I find the first two or three particularly egregious.

Experience

The most obvious misuse of this word is the way Microsoft overuses it, but they are by no means the only abuser. We hear about the "Windows experience," the "gaming experience," and, by God, the "driver installation experience." Life is full of experiences, so I'm unclear as to what's really special about the "living room experience." I experience my living room every day and no TV or computer exists in it. It's to the point now that when I hear the word "experience" used in a product pitch or presentation, I feel vaguely nauseous. Whatever's being pitched to me at that point had better be damned good to overcome my queasiness.

Seamless

I get particularly annoyed with a sentence like, "This should be a seamless experience." Even my Gore-Tex parka isn't seamless -- although I did once have a pair of hiking boots with only one seam. I know what's trying to be communicated here, but the term has become so overused that it's meaningless.…

http://www.extremetech.com/print_article/0,3998,a=110431,00.asp