March 2, 2015

Software Delivery 1 Student Name

SOFTWARE DELIVERY

There was a time when software only came in boxes that contained several floppy disks (thin plastic disks

five inches or so in diameter) and large, printed manuals. You might have been required to insert almost a

dozen floppy disks into your computer floppy drive to install a large application such as an operating system.

Free technical support came with most products to help users install and troubleshoot when problems arose.

Packaged and Downloaded Software Today, packaged software (software in boxes) still exists, but the software often is contained on a single

DVD, and the printed documentation has virtually disappeared. Instead, help files in the product itself or on

the manufacturer’s website are available, and free technical support has been replaced with manufacturer-

provided and user-sponsored tutorials and blogs.

Software products can be purchased individually, or you can buy some in a software suite, which bundles

several products together. Key benefits of suites include a common user interface, the ability to share data

between the products easily, and shared features that make functionality such as graphing available to all

the products.

Another significant development in recent years is the ability to buy and download software online,

from either the manufacturer or an online retailer. Before faster Internet connections came along,

transmitting huge application files was impractical, but today, with fast broadband connections, it can take

just a few minutes. Typically when you make a payment with your credit card or an electronic check, you are

given a product key you can use to install the software.

Cloud Computing The latest development in software delivery and access is web-based software, generally referred to as cloud

computing. With cloud computing, software is hosted on an online provider’s website and you access it over

the Internet using your browser—you do not have to have software installed on your computer to get work

completed. Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems are names you might be familiar with in the list

of cloud computing players. For example, Google Docs includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a

presentation program online. Microsoft’s Office 2013 product includes a web-based version called Office

Web Apps.

March 2, 2015

Software Delivery 2 Student Name

In the future, as the concept of cloud computing catches on, users will not have to install software. They

will simply have access to the data and applications they need, all hosted on a remote computer server and

invisible to them. This is referred to as software as a service (SaaS, pronounced “sass”). A provider licenses an

application to customers to use as a service on demand. The cloud computing model has several

advantages:

There is no need to download a large application or use space on your hard drive.

Updates to the software product can be made frequently by the provider and are transparent

(invisible) to the user.

There is less danger of a conflict with another software product or driver on your computer.

Some applications are free.

March 2, 2015

Software Pricing 3 Student Name

SOFTWARE PRICING

Software pricing ranges from free to whopping costs for some sophisticated business applications. Software

pricing varies depending on whether software is freeware or shareware, open course software that is

available to everyone, or provided by licensing agreements that businesses sign with software companies.

Freeware and Shareware Since the beginning of the consumer Internet, there have been some software products that generous

programmers shared for free (freeware) or for a small payment (shareware). In recent years, the amount of

free software available online has grown, and today you can probably find a free or shareware version of just

about any type of application. These free software products are sometimes quite sophisticated and feature-

rich; others are a much simplified version of a similar software product you can purchase. Free products may

come with a hidden price; the company may capture and sell your information when you download a free

product, or they may use email and pop-up messages to upsell you to a more feature-rich product.

Open Source Software The open source movement makes source code (the programming code used to build the software) available

to everyone in an effort to continue to build open source software and improve on functionality. The open

source movement has produced some applications that are contributed to by individuals and are free to all.

In certain instances, companies have used that open source code to develop software products and charge

for them.

Getting a License When you pay for a software product, you will find a wide range of pricing, from a lower-cost price for

upgrading to a new version, to competitive pricing for the full product at retail sites, auction sites, and

manufacturers’ sites. Companies that wish to buy software for many employees enter into software

licensing agreements that allow them to install a product on multiple workstations or install the product on

their network for individual computer users to access.

March 2, 2015

Software Pricing 4 Student Name

The Cost of Software in the Cloud With the cloud computing model, vendors can charge a subscription fee. They host the application on their

servers or download it to a device. They can then disable the service when the user’s contract expires. In

some cases, use of the products is free, as with Google, Adobe, and Zoho. Microsoft may offer Office 2013

Web Apps free to anybody who signs up for a Windows Live account or by license to corporate customers.