[wroteafaq]

I've observed a similar type of confusion. Computer vendors may be to blame: they've mixed up the terms a lot, possibly because of changes in how technology is implemented and a desire to keep the same words in use for software and documentation. For example, the word "PROM" was used by SGI for its firmware environment, despite it never residing in an actual (fusible) PROM.

Also a nitpick: Simtek/Cypress/Infineon sells a device with a NVRAM interface and Flash internal storage (it uses a capacitor to run the Flash write machine after detecting power-fail). They call it "nvSRAM". So it can be correct to use these terms in combination. In the end, I'm not sure that users without a subscription to EDN can be expected to tell them apart.

Heh.   Pretty much right - though I can even nitpick with *you* over the definitions.  Yes, a PROM is traditionally a bipolar, fusible-link device, but one can make a strong argument for simply calling an OTP UV EPROM a "PROM", because it's effectively one-time programmable and no longer (practically) erasable...

</nitpick>