Re: Skills ?
The words "program" and "application", when first used in context of computing resources, had absolutely nothing to do with the meanings which you now impart upon them. Using your own logic, those words shouldn't have ever been used either.
In this case, Amazon has probably chosen "skill" instead of program and application (or "app") to differentiate them, because they are neither programs NOR applications. You CANNOT install any third party software on an echo.
That is one of the reasons why Amazon uses the word "Enable" instead of "Install" -- because unlike a phone or computer you can't install anything.
What an echo skill does is extend the abilities of the echo by applying a filter to the translated text stream and proxying it off to a another server for processing. It is trivial really. In the industry we would probably call them "plugins" or "processing rules" but the reality is that most of the product's target demographic thinks that a "plugin" is a air freshener made by Glade but DOES understand "skill". A "developed talent or ability" does in fact fit what they are trying to accomplish, even reinforcing the perceived anthropomorphic characteristics of the device that they are trying to market.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
