Software recommendations tend to pass because they're often 'how' to do things rather than a straight off "What do I need?". Shopping recommendations are bad because firstly, they go stale (software doesn't in most cases), and they indicate a certain lack of homework. 

I can dust off a two year old software rec question, and most of the software there would still be available in some fashion. I can't really say the same for hardware, if the answer is specific enough.

I'd note I'm ['guilty'][1] of a few software rec questions, but generally they're useful/obscure bits of software, and they apparently don't exist (yet). [In the one situation where the software][2] *was* found, it was useful in at least 2-3 other questions. 

I'd say a properly asked software question is nothing like a hardware rec question.

  [1]: https://superuser.com/search?q=user:10165%20%5Bsoftware-rec%5D%20is:question&submit=search
  [2]: https://superuser.com/questions/128648/alternatives-to-altaris-symantec-svs