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Main article: Computer software A screenshot of the OpenOffice.org Writer software Computer software is any kind of computer program, procedure, or documentation that performs some task on a computer system.[55] The term includes application software such as word processors which perform productive tasks for users, system software such as operating systems, which interface with computer hardware to provide the necessary services for application software, and middleware which controls and co-ordinates distributed systems. Software applications for word processing, Internet browsing, Internet faxing, e-mail and other digital messaging, multimedia playback, computer game play and computer programming are common. The user of a modern personal computer may have significant knowledge of the operating environment and application programs, but is not necessarily interested in programming nor even able to write programs for the computer. Therefore, most software written primarily for personal computers tends to be designed with simplicity of use, or "user-friendliness" in mind. However, the software industry continuously provide a wide range of new products for use in personal computers, targeted at both the expert and the non-expert user. Operating system Main article: Operating system See also: Usage share of operating systems An operating system (OS) manages computer resources and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources. An operating system processes system data and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and internal system resources as a service to users and programs of the system. An operating system performs basic tasks such as controlling and allocating memory, prioritizing system requests, controlling input and output devices, facilitating computer networking and managing files. Common contemporary desktop OSs are Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD. Windows, OS X, and Linux all have server and personal variants. With the exception of Microsoft Windows, the designs of each of the aforementioned OSs were inspired by, or directly inherited from, the Unix operating system. Unix was developed at Bell Labs beginning in the late 1960s and spawned the development of numerous free and proprietary operating systems. Microsoft Windows Main article: Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is the collective brand name of several software operating systems by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985[56] as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs)[57][58] generated by Apple's 1984 introduction of the Macintosh. The most recent client and server version of Windows are Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, respectively, which have been available at retail since 26 October 2012. Under this family of operating system, this includes Windows XP, Vista. 7 and 8 and also their server OS equivalent. OS X Main article: OS X OS X (formerly Mac OS X) is a line of operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc.. OS X is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. OS X is a Unix-based graphical operating system and Snow Leopard, Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, and the new Mavericks are version titles. The most recent version of OS X is entitled OS X Mavericks. AmigaOS Main article: AmigaOS AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000. Early versions (1.0-3.9) run on the Motorola 68k series of 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors, while the newer AmigaOS 4 runs only on PowerPC microprocessors. On top of a preemptive multitasking kernel called Exec, it includes an abstraction of the Amiga's unique hardware, a disk operating system called AmigaDOS, a windowing system API called Intuition and a graphical user interface called Workbench. A command line interface called AmigaShell is also available and integrated into the system. The GUI and the CLI complement each other and share the same privileges. The current holder of the Amiga intellectual properties is Amiga Inc. They oversaw the development of AmigaOS 4 but did not develop it themselves, contracting it instead to Hyperion Entertainment. On 20 December 2006, Amiga Inc terminated Hyperion's license to continue development of AmigaOS 4. However, in 30 September 2009, Hyperion was granted an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to AmigaOS 3.1 in order to use, develop, modify, commercialize, distribute and market AmigaOS 4.x and subsequent versions of AmigaOS (including AmigaOS 5). Linux Main article: Linux A Linux distribution running KDE Plasma Desktop. Linux is a family of Unix-like computer operating systems. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development: typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.[59] The name "Linux" comes from the Linux kernel, started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The system's utilities and libraries usually come from the GNU operating system, announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman. The GNU contribution is the basis for the alternative name GNU+Linux.[60] Known for its use in servers as part of the LAMP application stack, Linux is supported by corporations such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Novell, Oracle Corporation, Red Hat, Canonical Ltd. and Sun Microsystems. It is used as an operating system for a wide variety of computer hardware, including desktop computers, netbooks, supercomputers,[61] video game systems, such as the PlayStation 3 (until this option was removed remotely by Sony in 2010[62]), several arcade games, and embedded devices such as mobile phones, portable media players, routers, and stage lighting systems. Applications Question book-new.svg This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008) Main article: Application software GIMP raster graphics editor A computer user will apply application software to carry out a specific task. System software supports applications and provides common services such as memory management, network connectivity, or device drivers; all of which may be used by applications but which are not directly of interest to the end user. A simple, if imperfect analogy in the world of hardware would be the relationship of an electric light bulb (an application) to an electric power generation plant (a system). The power plant merely generates electricity, not itself of any real use until harnessed to an application like the electric light that performs a service that benefits the user. Typical examples of software applications are word processors, spreadsheets, and media players. Multiple applications bundled together as a package are sometimes referred to as an application suite. Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org, which bundle together a word processor, a spreadsheet, and several other discrete applications, are typical examples. The separate applications in a suite usually have a user interface that has some commonality making it easier for the user to learn and use each application. And often they may have some capability to interact with each other in ways beneficial to the user. For example, a spreadsheet might be able to be embedded in a word processor document even though it had been created in the separate spreadsheet application. End-user development tailors systems to meet the user's specific needs. User-written software include spreadsheet templates, word processor macros, scientific simulations, graphics and animation scripts. Even email filters are a kind of user software. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is. |
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