Module 1.6 - Extended Software Concepts Flashcards
Name the two main types or groups of software?
- Application software
- System software
What is Appilcation software?
Application software is a group of programs that perform a specific task for users
What is System software
Is software that is intended to control, support or operate the computer
What does GUI stand for
Graphical User interface
What is an integrated software
Is software that combines commonly used programs.
-For example the Office suite, it has word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation software and communication software in one package
What advantages does Integrated software have?
- It is sold as one integrated unit - not necessary to buy packages separately (cheaper)
- The programs have similar user interfaces - if you know one, it is easier to learn another member of the suite
- It is designed for easy data exchange between programs
Do you own the software you purchase?
No you don’t actually own it, you are rather buying a licence to use the software under certain conditions
True or False:
A licence agreement is a legally binding contract between you as the user and teh software company
True
What are these licence agreements often termed (named)
EULA
End-User Licence Agreement
What does the licence agreement actually do?
It describes what you may or may not do with the software
What is Proprietary software?
- It is software that is licensed so that the user may only use the software under certain conditions.
- They may not change it or distribute it.
What is a Single User Licence?
This generally menas that you may only install one copy of the software. You may not install it on other computers even for home use. You can also ususally make one backup copy of the media (CD or DVD) that contained the software.
What is a Site Licence?
A site licence agreement allows a company or organisation an unrestricted number of installations of the software within the company or orgainisation.
Eg. the school my obtain a site licence for a program so that they can install it on all their computers (an any others they purchase in the future).
This is also sometimes referred to as volume licensing
Site licence is more expensive than a single licence but cheaper than buying a single copy for each computer (depending on the number of computers you wish to install the software on)
What is Software piracy?
Refers to the illegal installation, copying and distributing of proprietary software.
Remember that you can generally only make one copy for backup purposes, you may not make copies and give to your firends.
What have companies done to try and prevent/stop piracy?
most software now requires activating or registering your software online
True or False:
Software piracy is a crime and can result in hefy fines or even jail time?
True
What is Free Software?
Is software you can obtain for free which you can install as often as you like and even distribute freely
There is even a category of software where, if you have the programming knowledge to do so, you can change and improve.
Most of these freebies are avialable on the internet
Name types of Free Software
Freeware
Shareware
Open source
What is Freeware?
is fully functioning software that can be used and copied without any restrictions
What is Shareware?
is software that you can use for a trial period.
- you can download and try shareware for free.
- Software developer maintains all the rights to the software.
- It usually stops working when the trial period has expired. and the trial-version also sometimes does not include all the features of the full version.
- After this period, or should you wish to get the “full” version, you will need to pay for it.
What does OSS stand for
Open source software
What is Open source software
- is software that my be freely used, modified and distributed
- it may be altered, but cannot be sold.
The support and documentation can be charged for (it is the source code that is free)
Name some examples of Open source software
- Linux operating system
- the office suites OpenOffice and LibreOffice
- Java programming language
- MySQL database system
What are the potential disadvantages of open source software?
- No guarantee of quality or that it works correctly.
- There are often many different versions of teh same product. This could mean that when you work with this software on another computer, it could work and look different than the version you are used to.
- One can generally only get open source software from the Internet.
- Open source software is not as widely used. Eg. many more users use Microsoft Office and Windows as opposed to open source products
- Documentation and support for open source software my not be easy to access
What is source code?
Programmers develop and write programming code to create software. One needs this code to make changes or fix any “bugs” or mistakes in teh program that causes it not to work properly at times.
Generally, you are never given access to this programming code - it remains the propery of the developers.
With OSS this programming or source code in which the program is written is freely available.
What is Copyright?
refers to teh legal right to make copies, publish and sell.
What is Intellectual property?
is a broader concept that recognises the “ownership” of the person that came up with the original “idea” or “thought”
What is Creative Commons?
is a non-profit organisation that promotes the sharing and free use of knowledge and products legally.
They provide a variety of free copyright licenses which can be customised or modified to suit the person seeking the licence.
E.g. you can specifiy the the work e.g. software program may be freely used by not distributed
Name two types of System Software:
- Utilities
- Drivers
What is a Utility program?
Utilities are used to assist the user to perform maintenance tasks related to managing a computer.
Several types are included with the operating system, but stand-alone packages can also be purchased seperately.
Name some examples of Utility programs
- Compression software
- Backup Utilities
What is Compression software?
- is used to make a compressed version of a file
- aimed at reducing the size of a file so that it takes up less space to store
- often used to reduce the size of email attachements
- multiple folders and files can also be compressed into a single compressed folder
- some files and types of file swill compress more than others.
- the process of compressing the file is often referred to as “zipping” the file
- the process of changing the compressed version of the file back to its original size so you can work with it, is known as decompressing or “unzipping”
- E.g. WinZip and WinRar
Why is it essential to make backups or copies of files on a regular basis?
- electroinic files can be accidentally deleted or overwritten with the wong version of the file
- files can sometimes become corrupt (thir contents get a bit “scrambled”) by not shutting down properly, power failures or computer viruses
Name a 3 tips for backing up:
- Keep the backups in a safe place - not on the same computer (what happens if this computer gets stolen?)
- It is best to keep at least one backup off-site in case of a disaster such as a fire
- It should only be necessary to back up your data files as you can re-install software if need be
Give an example of what can be used to make a quick backup
Windows Explorer can be used to quickly copy our files to a portable medium such as a DVD or external hard drive.
Additional notes on backups
A specialised backup utility program should be used to make sure that all your files are backed up correctly. Many of these backup utilities automatically compress the files to save space on the disk they are being copied to.
Windows provides its own backup utility but a number of other backup utilities (some free) also exist.
What is a driver?
- software that allows your computer to communicate with the hardware or devices.
- The operating system comes with a huge set of drivers and in general, dirvers are installed automatically. It is however also possible to find the driver you need on the disk that came with the hardware or to download it from the internet.
Why do we need drivers?
- There are thousands of different makes and types of hardware devices.
- It would be impossible for the operating system to know how to use each device on the market.
- We therefore make use of drivers to control hardware.
- Every piece of hardware - from a flash disk to your printer - is controlled by a driver.
Overview of Module:
- Software:
- Licence Agreements
- Free Software
- Types of system software
Software
- Application software versus System software
- Stand-alone software versus Integrated software
Licence Agreements
- Single-user licences
- Site licences
Free Software
- Freeware
- Shareware
- Open Source Software
Types of system software
- Compression and backup utilities
- Drivers
