Inc. recently wrote about four tech words that are often misused at work. Author John Brandon goes into much more detail in the article, but I have some thoughts to add.
1. Internet
Many people use “internet” as a word to describe all things related to being online. Brandon points out that the internet is actually something specific—“an ‘inter-network’ of connected servers”—and that most likely you’re referring to the more all-encompassing “web.” Of course, this term gets confused even more when people start throwing in phrases like “internet of things” and “internet of everything.”
Brandon continues by describing the internet as the highway that takes you to you destinations (web sites, emails, etc.). Actually, I’ll take this one step further: those destinations are part of larger communities (cities, neighborhoods), which are actually—you guessed it—STORAGE! Get it?
Like any data we use, whether it be on the web (that one’s for you, John) or locally, it all comes down to where we store it. The internet may be the backbone that forms our connections, but storage is really the anchor that facilitates the internet. Without storage, there would be nothing to connect.
Photo Credit: The Telegraph
2. Cloud
Brandon brings us back to the classic definition of the cloud in his post, but I’m not sure that I’m 100% onboard with this one. I think this is one of those words that has evolved as technology has evolved. I completely agree that “the cloud” is often used analogously to “anything online” and that is not correct, but I do think the term has expanded a bit.
Brandon makes reference to Dropbox and Box.net, both of which are public clouds and very neatly fit into the class definition. However, most industry professionals would agree that both personal cloud and private cloud are different types of clouds, albeit not necessarily fitting as neatly into the classic definition (Read more about the differences between the two here.) Most industry professionals wouldn’t argue with the idea that these are both different types of clouds.
3. Apps
I completely agree with Brandon here. This is another word that has evolved, as he pointed out. “Apps” no longer refers solely to executable desktop applications. As technology has expanded, so have apps. That’s about as far as my commentary goes on this one.
4. Online
This one was interesting because Brandon points out that people are actually being too narrow in scope. He explained that this is really a word used to describe anything that is not on your local computer. That being so, a person can be “online” without being “on the internet.”
As an example, someone could be connected to their home or office network, accessing files from their network attached storage (NAS), and they would be “online” even if they had forgotten to pay their Comcast bill and weren’t connected to the internet.
So what do you think of Brandon’s article? How often do you hear people using these words incorrectly?
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