Software Overview

In an overview of software lets look at the distribution methods thart are most commonly used.

OEM is the most commonly used operating system software. Microsoft sells its operating systems as OEM software at a rprice, minus retail packaging, manuals and installation instructions. Resellers install the operating system before systems are sold and the OEM CD is supplied to the buyer.

Licensed software is purchased from a vendor for a specific purpose and is generally only for use on one computer; if you require to use it on more than one computer then you must purchase extra licences.

Shareware: This software is downloadable from the Internet. Licenses differ, but commonly the user is allowed to try the program for free, for a period stipulated in the license, usually thirty days. At the end of the trial period, the software must be purchased or uninstalled.

Crippled Software: This software is similar to shareware except that key features will cease to work after the trial period has ended. For example, the "save" function, the print function, or some other vital feature necessary to use the program effectively may become unusable. This "cripples" the program until the software is purchased.

Freeware: Freeware is downloadable off the Internet and free of charge. Often freeware is only free for personal use, while commercial use requires a paid license.

Public domain software: This is free software, but unlike freeware, public domain software does not have a specific copyright owner or license restrictions.

After a look at the distribution methods, lets look at the types of software.

Applications software - examples of this type of software includes office suites and video games, and may be purchased separately from the computer. Computer users can also create their own computer software, including spreadsheet templates, word processor macros etc.

General purpose packages are the most commonly used software packages. These include word processing, spreadsheet, desk-top-publishing, database and graphics. They are called general purpose because they can be customised in a variety of ways to perform extremely specialised tasks. A database can be used to create an application like a personnel or stock control system.

Systems software controls the operations of a computer and the other types of software that it runs. Examples of systems software include the operating system, device drivers, programming languages, compilers, assemblers and translators.

Utility software carries out all the day to day tasks in maintaining a computer system and its data files. Some common utilities are screensaver, virus checker, and system tools like disk defragmenter. Certain utility programs are usually bundled along with the operating system and are thought of as a type of systems software. Windows comes with a variety of screen savers, and various utilities including Drivespace that displays the percentage of drive space used and unused.

Integrated - a collection of software that has a common set of commands/icons. Usually they include word processors, spreadsheets and graphics software, but they can contain databases as well. They tend to be cheaper than purchasing each application separately.

Bespoke - also known as 'tailor made'. A company may need a particular piece of software that it cannot purchase because it does not exist yet - or it does not like what is available. The company can commission the software to be specially written for them. This tends to be expensive.