Unit 4 – Software

PostedSeptember 11, 2021

UpdatedDecember 3, 2021

Byadmin

Items In This Unit

What is software?
Software Hierarchy
Types of software
Software License Types
Operating Systems
Major Office Suites

What is Software?

Software is code that a computer understands to perform a useful task for the benefit of a computer user
The software comes in many flavours
- CMOS
- OPERATING SYSTEM
- WORD PROCESSOR
- SPREADSHEET
- PRESENTATION
- DATABASE
- WEBSITE
- GAME
- UTILITY

While software can be stored on a variety of storage devices it still needs a computer/CPU in order to run.

Software Hierarchy

Not all software programs are made equal. Some software programs need other software programs in order to run. The following depics the software hierarchy.

When observing the above diagram you can see that the Operating System, in order to work, required CMOS and Firmware programs that store basic computer information about various computer parts including the motherboard, CPU, memory and more. On the other hand, a video game needs an operating system in order to run.

Software Licence Types

Software licence types tell you how you can use a particular program. The following table provides a comparison between various software license types.

Public Domain

Permissive

LGPL

Copyleft

Proprietary

• The most permissive software license with which you can modify and use software without restrictions

• Also known as Apache or BSD type of licenses

• The most popular license with minimal requirements about how the software can be modified or redistributed.

• The GNU Lesser General Public License

• If you modify the LGPL released library or copy parts of it into your code, you’ll have to release your application under similar terms as the LGPL

• Also known as reciprocal licenses or restrictive licenses.

• Allow you to modify the licensed code and distribute new works based on it, as long as you distribute any new works or adaptations under the same software license.

• The most restrictive license type.

• Generally used for proprietary software where the work may not be modified or redistributed.

Operating Systems

An operating system is the core software that manages computer hardware resources while providing common services for computer programs.
Programmers create software programs that typically run within an operating system
Major current operating systems include:
- Microsoft Windows
- Mac OS X
- Linux
- ChromeOS

Operating System Comparison

OS Metric	Microsoft Windows	Mac OSX	Linux OS
Cost	$189 or more	Free	Free
Market Share	85%	10%	2%
Strengths	Compatibility Familiarity Ease of use Most popular	Reliable Stable Preferred by artists Come with GarageBand software	Free Most servers run on Linux Fastest Many Linux flavours for specific needs
Weaknesses	Not free Prone to Viruses Not as stable Need more expansive hardware	More Expansive than comparable Windows PC Compatibility Runs on Mac hardware only	Harder to troubleshoot and fix problems Not as popular outside of the developer community Graphical interface not as intuitive as Windows

Major Office Suites Software Comparison

Office Suite Metric	Office 360	LibreOffice	OpenOffice	Google Docs
Cost	$50+/year	Free	Free	Free
Runs on	PC Mac Web Browser	PC Mac Linux	PC Mac Linux	Web Browser
Included Programs	Word Excel PowerPoint OneNote Outlook Access Publisher SharePoint	Writer Calc Impress Draw Base Math Charts	Writer Calc Impress Draw Base Math	Docs Sheets Slides Forms

Unit Quiz:

Answer the following questions:

What software program can you use to create an essay for school work?
What software program can you use to create a financial plan?
Can you run a computer game without the operating system?