Virtual and non-materialistic

What is the difference between the virtual world and the non-materialistic world?
I remember someone, who introduced into the computer science world, by declaring it non-materialistic. Software, i.e. "code, text, thoughts and time", is nothing. It's nothing less than nothing but it doesn't seem to be a lot more. It's not a table or chair you made by your own hand, it's not a car you drive around, it's not the hair cut by a hairdresser and not the burger you bbq-ed on your very own.
So what is it? It's nothing you can show, it's nothing you can take with you...
Or is it?
Today we can make software we put on our mobile and show it around. It can take a lot of time to produce it, it can make us proud. But still, it's nothing without a medium.
It's not easy to depend on a medium and be proud of it. If you show someone your mobile with your first J2ME application they might see the mobile, not the software you made. If you show someone you display and say you made it, how trusts you? I wouldn't think anybody I know can make a display.
But on the other hand, what are authors and journalists? They write books. Do they make the books in a way, do they produce the paper it is on? Do they glue the papers together to form a book? And journalists on TV, do they make the news? No, they just talk about it!
Perhaps, computer science (in this case, the software part only) could be a lot more satisfaction if it was more talked about than made.
We should try.