The consciousness is not absolute but it is relative. The consciousness is how we perceive the world and respond to it. You are conscious because you feel your presence in the world through the environment’s reaction. Do you think a fish is conscious? And then, do you think a piece of steel is conscious? You would certainly say that a fish maybe conscious but steel can’t be. That’s because consciousness is not absolute but is relative. You consider fish as a conscious being because she responds to your action in some way, but a piece of metal doesn’t. The same might be happening with the metal. The metal might be considering itself as conscious but not us. In this way, existing software might be conscious in its own dimensions but not in ours.
See: http://www.dcetech.com/ieee/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2174&PN=1