[amock]

That is more descriptive, but it still sounds like queue functionality. Streaming processing is just a queue that gets emptied quickly and pub-sub is just a set of queues.

[dkersten]

Kafka doesn't generally get emptied quickly, but rather retains messages for a configured time/size. Because of this, consumers can choose to replay previously consumed messages, if they wish to do so.

[gshx]

You're right. I was mostly commenting on the common idiomatic ways ppl differentiate streams vs queues. Indeed, it can be used in both scenarios.