See also Naming of concepts Software Project - Software Asset - Software Distribution

https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/discussion/naming-concepts-software-project-software-asset-software-distribution

I am not sure I understand why there can be an ambiguity between a Software Project and a Software Product. Can you give an example?

In natural language, project might be quite different from product. I have looked up the following definitions in the Cambridge Online Dictionaries:

• project: "a piece of planned work or an activity which is finished over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular aim"
• product: "something that is made to be sold, usually something that is produced by an industrial process"

I think that a product can be seen as the result of a project. Both concepts might be quite different.

In the RDF Schema, Software Project (admssw:SoftwareProject) is represented as a subclass of doap:Project, which in turn subclasses foaf:Project. I am not sure whether it is desirable to extend the meaning of admssw:SoftwareProject to include software products.

The thing is some people may be interested in characteristics of projects and others in characteritics of software products. As we haven't splitted the 2 in 2 different classes (for good reasons given the use cases we have), I feel better to make this choice explicit rather than let some implicit assumptions to be rediscovered on the future user's side.

We are truely discussing semantics here, this is very important. In my view, the meaning of 'Software Product' has more similarity with a 'Software Package' than with the software project. I see a 'software product' as the result of the software project. Would you agree with that? It can be helpful to again refer to the example of the Apache HTTPD Server.

• Agent: The Apache Software Foundation (http://apache.org/) is an organisation that funds and publishes releases of the HTTPD webserver. 
• Software Project: The Apache HTTP Server application 'httpd' (http://httpd.apache.org/) is a software project. It groups several releases of the HTTPD.
• Software Release: Apache HTTP Server 2.2.22 (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/) is a software release of the Apache HTTP Server project
• Software Package: httpd-2.2.22.tar.gz (http://apache.mogo.be//httpd/httpd-2.2.22.tar.gz) is a software package (a physical file) of the 2.2.22 release.

I gave this issue some more thought and maybe I understand your concern. Sometimes, the project organisation behind a software is unclear. For example, LibreOffice, is rather a product suite than an actual project consisting of releases.

Would the following amendment to the definition of "project" address your concern?

"A Software Project is a time-delimited undertaking with the objective to produce one or more software releases, materialised as software packages. Some projects are long-running undertakings, and do not have a clear time-delimited nature or project organisation. In this case, the term ‘software project’ can be interpreted as the result of the work: a collection of related software releases that serve a common purpose."

The above-mentioned definition was added to the v1.00 specification. 

"A Software Project is a time-delimited undertaking with the objective to produce one or more software releases, materialised as software packages. Some projects are long-running undertakings, and do not have a clear time-delimited nature or project organisation. In this case, the term ‘software project’ can be interpreted as the result of the work: a collection of related software releases that serve a common purpose."