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' 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 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.
