1. Chapter 5 of Computers: Understanding Technology
Application Software
Chapter 5 of Computers: Understanding Technology
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

2. Importance of Operating System
Most application software is platform-dependent, i.e. it will run only with a particular operating system and must be modified to work with another operating system
The modification of application software to work with another operating system is a major endeavor and thus often takes many months, if it occurs at all
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

3. Operating System (cont.)
For example
Office 2008 for Macintosh was released January 15, 2008 whereas Office 2007 for Windows was released January 30, 2007
Quicken, the popular personal finance software, runs on Windows only although a Macintosh beta version is available
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

4. Operating System (cont.)
For this reason, the choice of an operating system will determine the range of application software choices available
Thus, many people choose Windows machines because there is more application software than with Mac
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

5. Categories of Application Software
Individual application software
Workgroup, collaborative software
Vertical application software – complete package of programs designed to work together to perform core business functions
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

6. Categories of Application Software
Packaged software – the manufacturer owns the copyright and licenses it to the individual, often sold to the public on a retail basis
Customized software
Shareware and freeware, including open-source software (owned by the developer, but programming code made available free to the general pulbic)
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

7. Application Software for Individual Use
Productivity Software
Software for household use
Graphics and multimedia software
Communications software
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

8. Productivity software
Word processing
Desktop publishing
Spreadsheet
Database
Presentation
Personal information manager
Web publishing
Project management
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

9. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Word Processing
Creating text
Editing text – spelling, grammar checker
Formatting
Text – font type, size, color, style, leading (space between lines), kerning (space between characters)
Paragraph – Alignment, double or single-space
Document – page numbers, headers, footers, page size, margin width
Saving and Printing
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

10. Word Processing Programs
Microsoft Word
Corel WordPerfect
Lotus (now IBM) WordPro
Openoffice.org Writer
Google Docs
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

11. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Desktop Publishing
Microsoft Publisher – part of some editions of Microsoft Office
Adobe PageMaker (still sold, but not being developed further)
Adobe InDesign
QuarkXPress
Publisher and PageMaker for home and small office market, whereas InDesign and QuarkXPress for professional market
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

12. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Spreadsheets
Microsoft Excel (ITE 140)
Lotus Development (now IBM) 1-2-3
Corel Quattro Pro
Openoffice.org CALC
Google Docs
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

13. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Database
Microsoft Access (ITE 150)
Lotus Development (now IBM) Approach
Corel Paradox
Openoffice.org Base
Larger applications
Oracle
Microsoft SQL Server
mySQL
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

14. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Presentation
Microsoft PowerPoint
Corel Presentations
Lotus Development (now IBM) Freelance Graphics
Openoffice.org Impress
Google Docs
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

15. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Software Suites
Word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation typically are purchased as part of an office suite of programs rather than purchased individually
Suites provide a common user interface (more standardization than just using Windows)
Suites offer ability to make content from one program available to another, either by pasting or object linking and embedding (OLE) – embedded file can be changed but changes aren’t reflected in original, whereas with linking they are
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

16. Personal Information Manager
Microsoft Outlook and Palm Desktop
Helps organize contact information, appointments, tasks, and notes
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

17. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Web Publishing
Adobe Dreamweaver (ITE 170, ITD 210)
Microsoft Expression Web (successor to FrontPage)
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

18. William Pegram - September 16, 2009
Project Management
Project management software is used to manage project so that resources are available when needed
Microsoft Project
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

19. Software for Household Use
Distinction: Productivity software can be used for anything whereas the following are for particular uses
Personal finance – Intuit Quicken, Microsoft Money
Tax preparation – Intuit TurboTax, H&R Block TaxCut
Legal software – Intuit WillMaker Plus
Games and entertainment
Educational and Reference Software – Encylopedias, dictionaries, and tutorials
Accounting – Peachtree (ACC 215), Intuit QuickBooks
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

20. Graphics and Multimedia Software
Painting - Paint
Drawing – CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia (now Adobe) Freehand
Image-editing (ITD 112) – Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia (now Adobe) Fireworks (ITE 170), Adobe Photoshop Elements
Animation - Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash (ITE 170)
Video and Audio Editing – Adobe Premiere
Computer-aided design (CAD)
William Pegram - September 16, 2009

21. Communications Software
Web browsers
Instant messaging
Groupware or collaboration software – e.g. company wikis (see Vauhini Vara, “Wikis at Work”, Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2007 , p. R11), Google Docs
Video conferencing software
William Pegram - September 16, 2009