spencerone@???:
> Hi,
Hi, sorry for the delay. I'm a bit overwhelmed these days with the
preparation of 1.4 and the upcoming security advisory about Claws Mail.
>> sajolida:
>> For example, would it work to say "Flash media" or "Flash memory". Do
>> people know what that is? Or sometimes say "flash media (USB stick or
>> SD card)" and then some other times only "flash media"?
>
> It appears that 'Flash Memory' is a concept while 'Flash Media' is a
> thing. However, 'Flash Storage Device' might be the most universally
> comprehendable as 'Media' isn't widely used outside of the technology
> industry. Also, media is plural where medium is singular, which, if
> using the current Tails install process, could become confusing to the
> less technical, as people are possibly using two devices to fully
> install Tails.
I agree with your reasoning and it's what some English dictionaries tell
me. But note that now both the Microsoft and Apple style guides agree
that using "media" for the singular is becoming acceptable. For example:
- "Media is played, but not stored, by the client software." (Apple)
- "The media covers news of the computer industry." (Microsoft)
But also:
- "The medium now used for many large computer programs is the DVD-ROM"
(Microsoft).
> (USB stick or SD card) parenthetically included on occasions with
> 'Flash Media' or 'Flash Storage Device' makes sense, especially the
> first time.
Microsoft also says that "media" works for "Materials on which data is
recorded or stored, such as magnetic disks, CDs, or tapes."
So I think we're good if we decide to say "flash media", consistently
(for both the singular and plural) after introducing it on occasions as
"flash media (USB stick or SD card)".
>> Note that we're also sometimes talking about "Tails device" in general
>> to talk about anything that can boot Tails (DVD, USB stick, or SD
>> card).
>
> This makes sense. 'Desired Tails Device' could also be used at times to
> refer to the desired target medium.
Cool.
>> Regarding the actions on those media, we've used:
>>
>> - "burn" for DVDs
>> - "copy onto" or "install onto" for USB sticks and SD cards
>>
>> Does this work?
>
> Yes, but it could be improved. With origins in hot-iron branding,
> 'Burn' is a colloquialism that carries little relationship to the
> physical function of writing software onto the disk, unless it is
> installed onto a one-time write disk, so maybe we can do without it. We
> could say 'Install' for DVDs, as it is a full-feature version of Tails.
I don't like "burn" that much either, but I checked again and it's the
recommended term by both Microsoft and Apple so I think I'll stick with
that. We've used it in quite many places in the doc already.
>> Does it also make sense to differentiate "copy onto" or "install onto"
>> for USB sticks and SD cards? I thought about saying for example:
>>
>> - "Copy the ISO image onto your USB stick", because the result is not
>> a "real" Tails (see the other thread on that topic)
>> - "Install Tails onto your USB stick", when using, for example, Tails
>> Installer, which creates a full-feature Tails.
>
> Yes. For 'Flash Media' it makes sense to differentiate 'Copy' and
> 'Install' for the first and second device write, respectively.
Ok, let's do that then.
--
sajolida
