SOFTWARE DELIVERY - Solano Community Collegebcs.solano.edu/workarea/mfracisc/CIS 066 Word...
Transcript of SOFTWARE DELIVERY - Solano Community Collegebcs.solano.edu/workarea/mfracisc/CIS 066 Word...
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.