*Programs*, music and documentation, articles are different kinds of work. Software is a representation. It can be a representation of programs, music, documentation or whatever.
Sorry, you are wrong. Software and programs are equivialent; and software is not music, documentation or whatever. Atleast in the world of computing science.
[...] The author of a verbatim-copy opinion piece is cutting their own nose off to spite their face, too: if I need to adapt an idea to my audience and I can't adapt their expression, then I don't use their expression and I'll probably only cite the primary sources.
You can use their expression, aslong as you don't change it. You can also quote pieces (fair use).