Is software a service or a tangible commodity?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 09:37:47 -0500
From: tim finin <finin () cs umbc edu>
Subject: Is software a service or a tangible commodity?
To: dave () farber net

Salon has an interesting article on the federal benefits laid-off workers
are eligible for when their jobs go overseas.  That is, unless you are
a software engineer...

  "...
  Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002, workers
  whose jobs have moved overseas can be eligible for a battery of extra
  assistance, including income support, job training, tax credits for
  health insurance, and job search and relocation allowances. Some older
  workers can even receive a temporary income subsidy, a form of "wage
  insurance," which helps cushion the financial blow when a new job pays
  much less than the old one. For instance, if you go from writing code
  for computers at $50 an hour to selling them retail at a computer
  superstore for $10 an hour.

  But Fusco and his fellow IBM employees who petitioned for the benefits
  were repeatedly denied. The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and
  Training Administration determined that programmers like Fusco do not
  qualify, because of the nature of what they'd produced on their old
  jobs: software. The government cited commerce and trade rules that
  classify software as a "service" and "not a tangible commodity,"
  rather than an "article" as the trade act stipulates.
  ..."

  http://salon.com/tech/feature/2004/01/12/wage_insurance/print.html


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