Software licences
One way to classify The programs, applications and data in a computer system. Any parts of a computer system that aren't physical. is through ownership and A legal agreement between the company that published the software and the end user covering areas such as copyright.. There are two types of ownership and licensing software:
- A model for creating technology that promotes free access to its design and makes it free to share. software
- Software owned by a company. The opposite of open source. software
While both types of software are usually widely available, they differ quite considerably in what can and cannot be done.
Open source software
Open source software can be free of A set of rights that prevents people copying and distributing a piece of work without the copyright holder's permission. and is usually available to anyone.
Open source software has several advantages:
- It costs nothing and provides the The code behind a computer program, written in a programming language. so that anyone can modify the software for their own purposes.
- It can have many authors. This enables programmers to contribute to the development of a program over time, refining and improving it and adding extra features.
- A modified version, known as a A modified version of an open source program., must also be made freely available for anyone else to use or adapt.
Open source software has its disadvantages too:
- There is no guarantee that it works properly as there is no requirement for anyone to ensure it is An error in a program. free.
- Support might not be readily available, especially if the program is not in widespread use.
Examples of open source software include:
- Linux The software that manages the hardware and software resources in a computer system.
- Firefox An application that displays web pages.
- Python A language used by a programmer to write a piece of software.
- Open Office productivity A collection of computer programs.
- Thunderbird Also known as email client. An application that sends and receives emails.
- Apache A computer that serves web pages to users.
- GIMP image editing software
- Moodle virtual learning environment
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is software that is copyrighted, which means it can only be obtained by paying for a licence.
Proprietary software has many advantages:
- The product should be free of bugs. If bugs still exist, updates known as An update to a piece of software, usually to fix bugs or improve the software in some way. are often provided free of charge, which fix these bugs.
- Help can be sought from the organisation who supplied the software if problems occur.
- Feature updates which extend the software's facilities are often available, although usually at a cost.
- Proprietary software that is in widespread use often has support available from many sources.
Proprietary software also has a number of disadvantages:
- There is an initial or ongoing (subscription) cost.
- Software cannot be adapted to meet the needs of the user. Only the Also called object-code, this is low-level code that represents how computer hardware and CPUs understand instructions. It is represented by either binary or hexadecimal numbers. version of the software is distributed, which cannot be edited.
- It can be limited to a single computer or A group of interconnected computers/devices., so unless the licence allows it, a user may not redistribute the software.
Examples of proprietary software include:
- Windows and OS X operating systems
- Microsoft Office productivity suite
- Adobe Creative Suite productivity software
- Logic music creation software
- paid-for games for consoles
