On Thursday, April 4, 2002, at 11:55 PM, Richard B. Johnson wrote:
>
> The term "illegal" historically refers to laws. Laws are rules
> enacted by governments.
>
> A license is permission, granted by a property owner, usually
> but not always, setting forth the conditions of use.
Breach of a software license involves an unlawful act under copyright
_law_. Your parking example doesn't involve copyright. If the conditions
of a software license are met, then you have no license and are dealing
with copyright _law_ - oh, they do have that in the US?
> The same applies to error messages and warnings issued by software.
> There is no such thing as an "illegal operand" or "illegal" parameter.
> The correct word is "invalid". Software does not make laws, therefore
> has no right to use the word "illegal". Instead, software makes rules.
> They do not have the power of law.
ilˇleˇgal
adj.
1. Prohibited by law.
2. Prohibited by official rules: an illegal pass in football.
3. Unacceptable to or not performable by a computer: an illegal
operation.
Source: The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition
~mc
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