Software Development Flashcards
Custom witten (bespoke/in-house)
Developed specifically for a particular organisation.
Adv: custom made to meet exact purpose
Diadv: very expensive and need technical expertise to develop.
Off-the-shelf
Developed by a software company to be sold to the general public
Adv: cheaper than developing it yourself and tech support available
Disadv: inflexible - might not do everything you want it to do
Open Source
Written by General public for everyone else to use. Source code provided so software can be tweaked.
Adv: allows anyone to use/adapt the software to meet their needs, collaborative approach to development which can lead to better quality software.
Disadv: by making source code available to all, provide opportunities for people to “take advantage” of software installed on users’ computers compromse security.
Propriety
Written by developer and allowed to be used by others but with certain restrictions, e.g. can’t adapt software. Source code is hidden.
Adv: can allow for different versions of some software, e.g. education version with limited functionality or full-functionality version costing more.
Disadv: source code cannot be inspected so may contain spyware or other malicious features within the software.
