READ:

GOF 4.4 Free Software (pp. 211-214)

Software

Fundamentals

What is an Operating system
Getting to Know OS
Applications
• Applications: word processing, desktop publishing, presentations, photo and video editing, music and
sound development, website development
• System software: operating systems and utilities
• Interfaces: graphical user interface (GUI), command line interface (CLI), menu-driven interface (MDI),
voice
• Licensing: shareware, public domain, freeware, proprietary and open source software
• Licensing authorities: Business Software Alliance (BSA) (Ethics in IT p. 153)
• Commercial and custom-built (bespoke) software
• Registration, serial number, warranty, copyright agreement
• Web-based software
• User support: manuals, assistants, tutorials, help systems, “Read Me” files
• Macros, templates, wizards
• File formats, for example, RTF (rich text format), TXT (text), PDF (portable document format), XLS
(Excel spreadsheet), SWF (small web format), ZIP (zipped file), JPG/JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts
Group bitmap), PNG (portable network graphics bitmap), CSV (comma-separated values), HTM/HTML
(hypertext markup language)
• Data transfer: ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), tab-delimited text file,
zipped file

System utilities (TIA Ch 5)

• Defragmentation/optimization and disk utility software
• Backup, file management, account and accessibility management
• Monitor and keyboard settings, for example, international settings, disability settings
• Virus scan, malware detectors and removers
• Compression/decompression (lossless, lossy)
• Colour synchronization