Paul I wonder whether or not you can explain the following:
I was checking to be sure I'd remembered what BTU stood for while preparing a post and, rather than limiting myself to an IBM site, I just tried Google - like you always do! The site which confirmed that '"basic transmission unit" (BTU)' was correct was TermWiki(TM): http://www.termwiki.com/EN:basic_transmission_unit_(BTU) Well, obviously the temptation was overpowering! I entered "USS" in the "Look for ..." field. <quote> unformatted system service (USS) Industry: Software; Category: Globalization software service A communications function that translates a character-coded command, such as a LOGON or LOGOFF command, into a field-formatted command for processing by formatted system services. See also formatted system service. 225 B (33 words) - 16:55, 20 June 2010 </quote> This was the first of all of 7 "hits" and - sorry John, I hope you're strong enough to withstand the disappointment - no "United States Ship" - whoops, sorry again, on checking closely I see that the 7th is a reference to "USS" as an United States Ship! Unfortunately my elation was just a little bit tempered by the 2nd and 5th "hits" - as anyone who is really interested can find out for themselves! But, of course, the question is: by what clearly superior method for garnering the references did TermWiki succeed so brilliantly where other, cruder, methods failed utterly? Chris Mason On Mon, 2 May 2011 10:11:56 -0500, Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]> wrote: >On Mon, 2 May 2011 09:25:51 -0400, Chicklon, Thomas wrote: > >>OK, you win. USS is officially only to be used when speaking of VTAM's >>table thing. >> >>So, if you (and some others I'm sure) want to preserve the purity of the >>acronym USS, good for you. Don't misuse it. Just leave the rest of us >>out of it. >> >It's interesting that the link Kirk Wolf posted: > > http://www.acronymfinder.com/USS.html > >rates the incorrect USS (Unix System Services) number six, and >USS (Unix Systems Services) number fourteen respectively. The >usage correct according to the IBM Glossary doesn't even make the >list. And when I filter by Information Technology, USS (Unix >System Services) becomes number one, and USS (Unix Systems Services) >becomes number two. Now, I suspect that AcronymFinder hasn't an >army of gnomes researching and consulting authorities to verify that >USS (Unix System Services) or USS (Unix Systems Services) is >technically correct. More likely, they have a nest of spiders that >crawl the Web, and whenever they find constructs such as USS (Unix >System Services) or USS (Unix Systems Services) they add weight >to the ranking of that interpretation. > >When I want to understand an acronym, I rarely RTFM; more often >I simply type the acronym in a Google search box, and take >whatever appears in the first page of hits as conventional, >although possibly technically incorrect. So Chris Mason's >polemics are likely counterproductive of his end: the more >stridently he denies that USS stands for Unix System Services, or >that USS stands for Unix Systems Services, provoking followups >that sometimes quote him, the higher he boosts the construct he >detests in AcronymFinder's ratings. > >He'd more effectively further his cause of eliminating use of >USS (Unix System Services) and USS (Unix Systems Services) if >he'd simply STFU. (AcronymFinder gets that one almost right.) > >-- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
