[ Thanks to Rainer
Weikusat for this link. ]
“What is the role, purpose and point of software? Most people
might assume that question to have an obvious answer: as the
Berkman Center for Internet & Society puts it, software is “the
programs or other ‘instructions’ that a computer needs to perform
specific tasks. Examples of software include word processors,
e-mail clients, web browsers, video games, spread sheets,
accounting tools and operating systems.”“What this description omits of course is human agency, which
ultimately determines what software does, how it does it, the
degree to which it supports or undermines the rules and laws of
society, and how it encourages or discourages ordinary citizens to
participate in the process of defining those rules and laws.”