Good post.

On these topics, I find the definition of the term is relative to where the person "sits".

For example, HPC to a web architect is very different than HPC to an ASIC designer and is also very different to a trading systems architect. That is why I said the use of the term is relative.

The same is true for other TLA, like SOA, for example. To a CIO, a "service" might be defined as a massive globa IT system. To the web architect, a "service" might be a payment gateway. To a programmer, a "service" might be a piece of code in an object oriented design library. To a chip designer, a "service" might be a graphics card on the motherboard bus.

"High Performance" is relative to the application, which is very different depending on where you "sit". This is also very true for the term "computing".

These terms are relative to the level of architectural and application abstraction and granularity.

This concept is hard for many people to grasp, especially those who work in a specific area and who define terms based on their own perspective; and often this is a major cause of problems in IT systems design because people tend to forget that the perspective of the user defines their worldview.

Another way of saying this is "All politics are local."