Software & its Type

By ioplus3 

Software can be classified into three broad categories.

• System Software
• Application Software
• Malware

1. System Software

They are of 3 types. Operating System, Device drivers & Utility Software

I explained Booting in my last post. I which I explained when the computer is turned on Bios powers up, run POST and Load BOOTSTRAP from Bootable Device. Bootstrap complete predefined steps that increase control over system hardware and start loading OPERATING SYSTEM into RAM.

The Operating system then loads special type of Software called DEVICE DRIVERS that let the OS control a particular type of Hardware that is attached to the computer like Printer, Graphics Card, Network Port (LAN), Speakers (Audio), etc.

Operating System is a low-level software that provides a platform to support other software to run on. It provides a Graphical interface to the user with Shortcuts, icons, cursor, Date & time, etc. with which a User can interact with to run a software which he wants to use. It also manages Storage of User files and application files.

When you double click on a software icon, the Software sends a request for hardware resources to Operating System, like RAM capacity needed, special hardware access like Printer, access to the internet, etc. OS then allocates a block of RAM out of its available capacity, as some of the capacity is occupied by OS itself, to the Software where it loads itself into the RAM and is now available for the user to be interacted with. Modern OS allows Multitasking, which allows different software to run in parallel on an OS by sharing resources. They also include some bundled small UTILITY SOFTWARE to assist users in the maintenance and care of their computers and perform some basic tasks.

You can Buy an OS like WINDOWS by MICROSOFT which is run on 87.5% of computers in the world or Buy a computer which has one. Similarly, you get iOS (9.6%) when you buy an iMac or MacBook. There are FREE OS too. These are Linux distros like Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. Linux Distribution, Distro in short, is an operating system made from a software collection which is based on Linux (2.1%).

2. Application Software

It performs a special group of tasks, beyond the Basic tasks that computer can perform itself, to generate an output of some kind that benefits the user. This is different from the system software, which mainly involves running the computer.

Basic examples of application software include a word editor, a presentation program, a web browser, an email client, a media player, a file viewer, a game or a photo editor.

The list of the type of Application software can be huge depending on the result a user wants. Some of the Basic application software are as follows

Type	Paid	Free
Word Processor/ Editor	Microsoft Word	Apache OpenOffice Writer
Spreadsheet	Microsoft Excel	Apache OpenOffice Calc
Presentation	Microsoft PowerPoint	Apache OpenOffice Impress
Photo Editor	Adobe Photoshop	GIMP, Paint.Net
3D Designing	Autodesk Maya & 3Ds Max, Solid works	Blender
Vector Graphics	Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw	Inkscape
Email Client	Microsoft Outlook	Mozilla Thunderbird
Instant Messaging/ VOIP	Skype Business	Skype, Google Duo
Cloud Storage	1TB online storage by OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive	Free up to 5 GB by OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive
Games	My favorites are MASS EFFECT, Diablo 3, Need for Speed.	My favorite is Hearthstone.

3. Malware

You all must have heard about a computer virus. It is a type of Malware that can harm a user or disrupt a computer by performing such operation which are harmful to them. They are not desired by anyone and closely related to Cybercrimes. Some Viruses are designed to harm while some are designed as practical jokes.

Most of the time we use application software called Antivirus to keep malware in check.

In my upcoming posts, I will discuss must have free software for an average user.