Different Types of Software

Question 1

Propriety (Off-shelf) Software

Answer 1

Propriety (Off-shelf) Software
- Cheap
- Lots of support in books and online
- May not solve problem exactly as you wanted it solved
- Users tend to pay for large number of features they do not use

• generally less expensive
• it may be possible to speak to other users of the package for their evaluation before buying
• can be bought and installed straight away
• software is tried and tested and likely to contain fewer bugs than newly written software
• usually well documented
• training may be available in common packages

Question 2

Bespoke Software

Answer 2

Bespoke software
- written for a specific client often businesses
- can be customised to users exact needs
- Unique software can provide unique competitive advantage
- Very expensive
- Software not immediately available, must wait for design and development

• designed to do exactly what the user wants
• can be written to run on specified hardware
• can be integrated with existing software
• there may not be a suitable package available

Question 3

Bespoke Software

Answer 3

Bespoke software
- written for a specific client often businesses
- can be customised to users exact needs
- Unique software can provide unique competitive advantage
- Very expensive
- Software not immediately available, must wait for design and development
- might contain bugs as has not been tested by many users

Question 4

Open Source

Answer 4

Open Source
- Source code is visible and can be modified by users
- free
- can customise software if you can program
- no right to support if you experience any bugs, although the community makes up for this
- more powerful features that come with paid software may not exist

Question 5

Weather Forecasting

Answer 5

Weather Forecasting
- sensors positioned throughout the world to measure temperature, pressure, wind speed/direction and moisture
- Large amounts of complicated calculations need huge amounts of RAM and CPU power), require super computers for data to be quickly enough for it to be of any use
- calculations based on geographical locations and previous similar weather conditions

Question 6

Computer Aided Design (CAD)

Answer 6

Computer Aided Design (CAD)
- Typically mouse or touch screen input, allowing user to position parts, add texture, materials and allows movement
- Calculate cost
- Stress and strain test
- Rotation to view model
- Walk-throughs
- require powerful processors, graphics cards and lots of RAM
- can take still images
- animations of walk throughs
- total costs of materials and list of materials can be outputted

Question 7

Robotics

Answer 7

Robotics
- Robots can work 24-hour days and do not get tired or bored

• Robots can work where it might be dangerous for humans (military organisations have a great interest in robots)
• Robots generally work faster, more accurately and more consistently than humans
• The initial expense for a new robot is very high, and extra expense can be incurred to pay for experts to maintain the robot
• A malfunctioning robot may not know that it is malfunctioning, and continue to perform the same job incorrectly for a long time without detection
• A robot, unlike a human, cannot think for itself and can only follow its program

Question 8

Expert systems

Answer 8

Expert Systems
- emulates the decision making ability of a human expert

Knowledge base
- contains enough data to allow the expert system to come to a firm conclusion or
at least have an educated guess from multiple experts

Inference Engine
- The inference engine consists of a set of rules which determines what question the user will be asked next, based on answers the user has provided so far.

User Interface
- presents questions and feedback to the user and accepts input from the user in the form of answers.