Please let me know if this sentence is grammatically correct (though odd):
That software application is agnostic of Operating System.
Sorry, but this doesnât make any sense to me. Can you please try to rephrase it?
Thanks Torsten!
I wanted to say, the software (let us say - MSWord) is independent of any operating systems.
It works on any Operating System.
Then why not phrase it as you have just done - - this software program runs on any OS. Or even better: list the operating systems the program runs on: Windows, iOS, Android, Linux⌠There canât be many more than those, can there?
Thanks Torsten for your answer!
Then, when should we use âAgnosticâ - Is this word not suitable here ?
Well, I would say itâs a very specific term that is used rather seldom and in most cases as a noun describing a person. This is what Wikipedia has to say on the issue:
"The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, and said âIt simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe.â
At any rate, I canât see any connection between a software program and operating systems on the one hand and agnostics on the other. Where and how did you come across the word âagnosticâ?
By the way, Thomas Henry Huxley reminds me of Aldous Huxley, the author of the famous book Brave New World.
As a âpracticing agnosticâ I can answer this question - ha! It is generally used in a religious context to describe someone who doesnât believe there is a God, but who does not definitely believe there is not a God. So an agnostic either is not sure there is a God or thinks it is impossible to even know if there is a God or not.
Thanks for the elaborate reply Torsten and Luschen!
I very frequently see the usage of this word in software industry, to refer to some software or tool that has the ability to work independent of any operating system or platform (Java .NET etc).
In this case you can say âthe application is platform-agnostic or OS-agnosticâ.
Ok, Thanks Torsten!
I will use in that way.