One of the things that really agitates me is misuse of a term. You wouldn’t believe the number of press releases I get where I am thinking one thing about the product only to discover it’s something else because of misuse–whether sloppy or deliberate–of a common term. Recently a software SCADA company sent me an item that talked about its customer using the product for control. Got my attention–until I called the customer and discovered there was no control in the application.
This feeling has Keith Campbell pondering, too. In his latest post, he takes people to task for misusing the term “mechatronics.” Much deception or misunderstanding ensue when marketers take a poplular word and massage it to make it fit their products. Take a look at Keith’s reasoning.
