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ME: Yet the packaging of firmware (without which it wouldn't be firmware) is considered hardware.

YOU: Too bad all the technical definition of the word firmware disagrees with your definition

Sorry, nice try, a blank EPROM is definitely just a piece of hardware.

ALL SOFTWARE resides on what is considered hardware. ... What a silly statement. ALL SOFTWARE is packaged on hardware - not just firmware.

Then why don't we call the programs on the hard drive "firmware"? Because they're not firmware.

Taken from a computer-oriented encyclopedia: "Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. ROMs, PROMs and EPROMs that have data or programs recorded on them are firmware."

Get it? Firmware is a combination of software and specific hardware. You can scream "it's software" all you want and try to compare it to what's on my hard drive, but the terminology changes once it's on that EPROM.

A Linux router/firewall running off my hard drive is called software. Now take that and burn it to an EPROM (like in a Linksys router), and it's now called firmware. Its nature didn't change, but its location necessitates a change of terminology.

So, going way back to the beginning of this, I did use the wrong terminology during some lazy typing. The essence still stands: Compaq's reverse-engineering freed the software. The factual occurrence beneath the hood was that they reverse engineered source code (software) in order to achieve it. They did not reverse-engineer firmware, since they were going off the IBM technical manuals, not the chip. If you think about it, they didn't just reverse-engineer software either, they reverse-engineered an entire specification.

Firmware is only in the discussion to the extent that the software they reverse-engineered was meant to be placed on a ROM (or EPROM, can't remember) to become firmware, thus when people talk about it they tend to say the "firmware" or "BIOS" was reverse engineered. But to dispute someone saying this is to get anal and purposely difficult unless you're just leaving a clarifying side-note.

Sorry, nice try, a blank EPROM is definitely just a piece of hardware.

An EPROM or PROM is not firmware - it holds software just as a hard drive holds software. A PROM is always hardware and is never software and is never firmware - the software written in the PROM (or any other read-only memory) is the firmware. Just as a hard drive is always hardware but it does HOLD software. PROM's HOLD software - Hard drives HOLD software.

Then why don't we call the programs on the hard drive "firmware"? Because they're not firmware.

Because the software on a PROM is read-only and the software on the hard drive is not - please refer to the eight technical definitions I posted earlier. The term Firmware is to point out the software can not easily be changed - not that is some magical thing between hardware and software. Firm refers to inability to change it easily.

"Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. ROMs, PROMs and EPROMs that have data or programs recorded on them are firmware."

Now you are turning to dishonesty - tisk, tisk. You left off the first line of the definition on purpose I see. Here is the complete definition:

Software (programs or data) that has been written onto read-only memory (ROM). Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. ROMs, PROMs and EPROMs that have data or programs recorded on them are firmware.

Funny, the first line is the definition I have been using all along - could that be the reason you left it off? hmmm.

The definition is a bit misleading to newbies. The PROM's are hardware but PROM's by themselves do nothing and are not firmware. The only value of firmware is the software. The hardware part of firmware is what it is stored on. All software is stored on hardware so this does not make firmware unique.

A Linux router/firewall running off my hard drive is called software. Now take that and burn it to an EPROM (like in a Linksys router), and it's now called firmware. Its nature didn't change, but its location necessitates a change of terminology.

Close. It is the fact it is read-only that makes it firmware. firm = unable to change easily.

Firmware is software stored in read-only memory.

It is not "something in-between software and hardware" - that was my point through this entire debate - thanks for presenting supporting evidence for my point.

Firmware is only in the discussion to the extent that the software they reverse-engineered was meant to be placed on a ROM (or EPROM, can't remember) to become firmware, thus when people talk about it they tend to say the "firmware" or "BIOS" was reverse engineered. But to dispute someone saying this is to get anal and purposely difficult unless you're just leaving a clarifying side-note

Close but no cigar

Nobody reverse engineered the PROM which is the hardware (most modern PROM's are not erasable). They reverse engineered the software. As I pointed out earlier - part of the software in the original BIOS firmware was reverse-engineered into a non-firmware executable (ROM-BASIC).

I see you are turning to dishonesty again. This all started because you claimed they reverse-engineered the hardware and then you tried to claim firmware was hardware.