[WalterBright]

> Other fields use the words profit, not just accountants.

Sure, but we're talking about accounting here when discussing business profits. People are free to make up their own definitions of things, but that makes sensible discussion impossible.

[throwawayjava]

It really doesn't. The majority of commenters here understood my original meaning, and this entire thread about the definition of profit isn't even relevant to the point I was actually making.

Being so fickle about definitions that you miss the broader message, however, does make sensible discussion impossible.

[WalterBright]

Let me try another way. P = profits, R = revenue, S = salary, E = expenses:

    P = R - S - E

Every dollar you get in salary is a 1:1 drop in profits. Any bonus B you get,

    P = R - (S + B) - E

is the same. You might expect from this, then, that if you're offered a S+B package, the S would be lower than what you'd get with a pure S offer, by the expected amount of B. And you'd be right. I've been on both sides of the negotiating table, and this is how it works.

[throwawayjava]

> Let me try another way

Please... I understand your pedantry, and I don't care. This is a silly conversation.

Do you have any thoughts about the role of engineers in a firm and how the existence of firms relates to the article's thesis? That's a much more interesting and relevant topic for discussion than the fact that words sometimes have more than one definition.

So if not, let's kill this thread. I used the word "profit" in a way different from how it's used in Accounting 101. For that I am profoundly and eternally sorry, but not sorry enough to continue an off-topic and unenlightening conversation :-)