[Closi]

Well the definition of a sale is usually the exchange of a commodity for money.

When its information that can be copied it would usually be called sharing (because both parties still have what they started with, but both have 'more' as they have shared with the other).

If you are arguing semantics, sale is probably the wrong term and 'sharing' is probably more accurate.

[JohnFen]

> Well the definition of a sale is usually the exchange of a commodity for money.

I thought the definition of "sale" is the exchange of a thing for consideration. The consideration is usually money, but doesn't have to be.

But I had to look it up. My definition was a bit too expansive, but not by much. The first one in the American Heritage dictionary is

    The exchange of goods or services for 
    an amount of money or its equivalent; 
    the act of selling.

> If you are arguing semantics, sale is probably the wrong term and 'sharing' is probably more accurate.

I think "sharing" is less accurate. Maximal pedantic accuracy is probably "bartered".

[Closi]

Well the definition of sharing would be "to have or use something at the same time as someone else", so as you both have access to the data after the action and can both use it at the same time, I think sharing could be considered valid alongside bartered.

The one that isn't accurate though would be sale, which is an exchange for money.

[JohnFen]

"Sharing" implies that there isn't a value exchange. When I share something, I'm not expecting anything in return.

[Closi]

I don't think that's necessarily the case - e.g. "Let's share my car and you can help me clean it at the weekend" is a valid sharing arrangement (i.e. share the asset and share the effort to maintain).

[JohnFen]

Well, we're deep into worthless pedantry here, but I love worthless pedantry.

I would say that despite the casual use of "share" such as in your example, that isn't really "sharing". It's bartering. The use of the car is predicated on getting something in return, so it's an exchange of value.

[Closi]

Regardless of if it's bartering or sharing, it's definetly not a sale :)

[dragonwriter]

“Trade” may be more accurate than “sale” for an exchange for valuable consideration that is neither money nor denominated in currency, and is certainly much better than “sharing” for an exchange (though I think “sale” is, itself, though loose still reasonable and much better than “sharing”.)