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Software can be categorized at different levels. At the broadest level, there are two groups of software categories: application software and system software. Application software provides the user with the ability to accomplish a goal or purpose. System software (the operating system) performs the task required to keep the system running, and provides the main interface for the user.
Application software can be further categorized into three groups: productivity software, utility software, and programming software. Productivity software allows people to complete daily work, and is typically utilized in business or organizational settings. Utility software allows you to fix or modify your computer in some way. Programming software allows us to make more software.
Perhaps the most familiar type of software familiar to the everyday computer user is productivity software. Productivity software includes applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and other applications that are typically offered as a package or suite. We can indeed further categorize productivity software based on its function or intended purpose. Major categories of productivity software, based on function, are word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. Listed below are common productivity software categorized by their function.
Software applications make computers useful by completing tasks and ultimately making users productive. The key to understanding how to evaluate whether a software package can complete a specified task is to understand the domains in which the software is best suited. A software domain refers to the environment or situation in which a particular piece of software is designed to be operational. Education, entertainment, and business are a few examples of the domains in which software is used. Listed below are the domains in which various categories of software are best.
Software Category | Domain |
---|---|
Word Processing |
Business: grant proposals, professional resumes, press releases Education: academic papers, speech outlines, lab reports Entertainment: film manuscripts, theater bills, jacket inserts for CDs/DVDs |
Spreadsheet |
Business: financial reports, tracking inventory, employee scheduling Education: data for creating charts and graphs, perform calculations Entertainment: ticket sales, resource planning, event schedules |
Presentation |
Business: quarterly reviews, sales and advertising, training new employees Education: enhancing lectures, student assessment, all-school assemblies Entertainment: promotions and trailers, audio/visual effects |
Database |
Business: customer interactions, merchandise inventory,
payroll Education: course enrollments, research statistics Entertainment: digital marketing, trends and predictions, ratings forecasting |
Source: Derived from Chapter 3 of “Information Systems for Business and Beyond” by David T. Bourgeois. Some sections removed for brevity. https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Information%20Systems%20for%20Business%20and%20Beyond/Textbook.html