Starting in the 1980s, application software has been sold in mass-produced packages through retailers

The software industry comprises businesses involved in the development, maintenance and publication of computer software. Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a Software product A software publisher is a Publishing company in the Software industry between the developer and the distributor. The software industry started in the mid-1970s at the time of the personal computer revolution. The industry also includes software services, such as training and consultancy. A service is the non-material equivalent of a good. A service provision is an economic activity that does not result in Ownership, and this is what differentiates The largest and most profitable of software companies are located in the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the As of 2006, the client software industry is dominated by Microsoft. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Software Magazine's 500 list in 2005 shows the total amount of revenue brought in by software companies per locale, with the highest being California due to Silicon Valley and the amount of Fortune 500 software companies residing in that area. Software Magazine is a software and IT magazine Software 500 survey Software 500 survey can be used to gauge the value of the commercial software industry California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. Please do not add the complete list of fortune 500 companies The list is copyrighted by Fortune which makes money by selling the content ^[1]

Overview

There are mainly two types of businesses in the software industry; those developing proprietary software such as Microsoft, and those developing open source software. The word proprietary indicates that a party or proprietor exercises private Ownership, control or use over an item of Property. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge Developing proprietary software is costly and involves software licensing and the need to protect the software from cracking and piracy. Piracy is Robbery committed at sea or sometimes on shore without a commission from a sovereign Nation (as distinct from Privateering

The main financial return on open source comes from selling services, such as training and support, rather than the software itself. Many contributors to open source software (especially those developing software tools) also feel that there is a significant long-term return in the form of improved resources and capabilities within the software industry. Despite doing much business in properietary software, some companies like Sun Microsystems and IBM participate in developing free and open source software to deter from monopolies and take a portion of their market share. Sun Microsystems Inc ( is a multinational vendor of Computers computer components Computer software, and Information technology services International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology In Economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos, alone or single + polein, to sell exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient Market share, in Strategic management and Marketing, is the percentage or proportion of the total available Market or Market segment that is

Sectors

Freeware

Freeware is copyrighted computer software which is made available for use free of charge, for an unlimited time, as opposed to shareware where the user is required to pay (e. Freeware is computer Software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for The term shareware, popularized by Bob Wallace, refers to Copyrighted commercial Software that is Distributed without payment on a trial g. after some trial period or for additional functionality). Authors of freeware often want to "give something to the community", but also want credit for their software and to retain control of its future development. Sometimes when programmers decide to stop developing a freeware product, they will give the source code to another programmer or release the product's source code to the public as free software. Free software or software libre is Software that can be used studied and modified without restriction and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified

Shareware

Shareware is a marketing method for computer software. The term shareware, popularized by Bob Wallace, refers to Copyrighted commercial Software that is Distributed without payment on a trial In popular usage "marketing" is the promotion of products especially Advertising and Branding However in professional usage the term has a wider meaning of Shareware software is typically obtained free of charge, either by downloading from the Internet or on magazine cover-disks. A user tries out the program, and thus shareware has also been known as "try before you buy". A shareware program is accompanied by a request for payment, and the software's distribution license often requires such a payment.

Open source

Open source describes the principles and methodologies to promote open access to the production and design process for various goods, products, resources and technical conclusions or advice. Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge A conclusion is a Proposition, which is arrived at after the consideration of Evidence, Arguments or Premises Logic The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is made available to the general public with either relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. In Computer science, source code (commonly just source or code) is any sequence of statements or declarations written in some Human-readable Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names This allows users to create user-generated software content through either incremental individual effort, or collaboration. User generated content ( UGC, often hyphenated also known as Consumer Generated Media ( CGM) or User created Content ( UCC) refers Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together toward an intersection of common goals — for example an intellectual

Commercial

Commercial software is computer software sold for commercial purposes or that serves commercial purposes. Commerce is a division of trade or production which deals with the exchange of goods and services from producer to final consumer Commercial software is most often proprietary software, but free software is also used as commercial software. Proprietary software is Computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use private modification copying, or republishing. Free software or software libre is Software that can be used studied and modified without restriction and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified ^[2] All or parts of software packages and services that support commerce are increasingly made available as free software, including products from Red Hat, Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and Google. In Computing, Red Hat Inc ( is a company dedicated to Free and open source software, and a major Linux distribution vendor Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics Sun Microsystems Inc ( is a multinational vendor of Computers computer components Computer software, and Information technology services Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online Microsoft Corporation uses "commercial software", rather than "proprietary software", to describe their business model. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer A business model is a term used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions that are used by enterprises to represent various aspects of its business including its purpose offerings ^[3]

Size of the Industry

Software Magazines' Software 500 survey can be used to gauge the value of the commercial software industry. Software Magazine is a software and IT magazine Software 500 survey Software 500 survey can be used to gauge the value of the commercial software industry The Software 500 survey consists of data of the top 500 software companies, as ranked by Software Magazine. Software Magazine is a software and IT magazine Software 500 survey Software 500 survey can be used to gauge the value of the commercial software industry Total worldwide revenues in 2006 for companies in the Software 500 list were $394 billion, representing a growth of 3. 5% from 2005, when total Software 500 revenue was $381 billion. ^[4]

See also

• Professional Open Source Business Model
• Software
• Software development
• Software publisher
• Software engineering
• Software engineering economics
• World's largest software companies

References

External links

• Software Association of Oregon website
• Software Industry Professionals website
• Software and Information Industry Association website
• Software Magazine website
• Software Development News