Chapter 3: Software
Software gives the instructions that tell the hardware what to do. There are two basic categories of
software: operating systems and applications. Operating systems provide access to the computer
hardware and make system resources available. Application software is designed to meet a specific
goal. Productivity software is a subset of application software that provides basic business functionality
to a personal computer: word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. An ERP system is a
software application with a centralized database that is implemented across the entire organization.
Cloud computing is a method of software delivery that runs on any computer that has a web browser
and access to the Internet. Software is developed through a process called programming, in which a
programmer uses a programming language to put together the logic needed to create the program.
While most software is developed using a closedsource model, the opensource movement is gaining
more support today