Chapter 4: Discussion Question

1)       What major trends are occurring in software?  What capabilities do you expect to see in future software packages?

Major trends that have been developing in software are towards easy-to-use features, general-purpose application packages and toward natural languages.  Expect powerful, multi-purpose, expert-assisted software packages with natural language and graphics-based user interfaces have fast become the norm.  Future software packages will no doubt incorporate more voice activated features than we have previously seen. General purpose software packages will probably not incorporate many new features; however the software industry will continue to strive towards ensuring that their new releases are better written, and easier to use.

2)       How do the different roles of system software and application software affect you as a business end user?  How do you see this changing in the future?

The system software acts as an interface between the computer hardware and the application software. To run any application it is very much important for a application software to be supported by system software. The end user will interact mainly with application software and application software performs as per the permission of system software.  In the future this type of interface will become even easier to use as it moves towards natural interfaces.

3)      Refer to the Real World Case on Wolf Peak International in the chapter. If you were   starting a small business, what business application software would you choose for accounting and control of business operations and management reporting? Why?

Managers should seek to strike a balance between functionality, cost, scalability, and flexibility. QuickBooks offers a low cost solution that can modestly scale up. Management can purchase additional functionality, and QuickBooks' immutable data structures greatly simplify migration to more sophisticated applications. Its most basic version is available for free download with the caveat that users are limited to entering no more than twenty customers. This limitation can be removed for $99. Some students may base their selection upon familiarity with a specific package. This is a legitimate consideration as familiarity with a package helps increases certainty that......... Click below to read all.

the software fits well with the organization's needs. It also helps reduce the individual's learning curve and training costs. However, the choice must still be appropriate for a small business as well as allow for future growth, etc.

4)      Why is an operating system necessary?  That is, why can’t an end user just load an application program in a computer and start computing?

The instruction set implemented on the computer hardware (the machine language) is very limited. Programs using only these instructions would have to be extremely long and complicated, to perform the various processing tasks required by end users.  Application programs thus require the operating system to act as an interface with the hardware, allowing application programs to be shorter, easier to understand, easier to use, and possibly allow multiple applications to run concurrently.

5)       Should a web browser be integrated into an operating system?  Why or why not?

Since it influences lots of other things in system, Opinion about weather to integrate web browser into operating system or not will probably vary. If done so there will be lots of advantages like, convenience of using and availability, growing popularity of Internet, extranets, and intranets. It also has disadvantage as it will take additional resource requirements, it may result in abuse of corporate resources using the web browser for activities not related to company business, etc.

3) Refer to the Real World Case on data sharing and XML on the chapter. As noted above, XML needs to be customized with tags or labels that are tied to the business domain for which it will be used. How do companies manage the need create schemas that are specific to their organization versus the ideal of sharing data with their partners? Is there a risk of ending up with a bunch of proprietary XML specifications?

  Yes, there is a risk that the business world will end up with a bunch of proprietary XML specifications. Organizations with captive suppliers, can simply dictate their standards. More commonly, businesses within an industry often create or join consortiums or other representative organization. These consortiums may undertake to create an open standard for data exchange. These open standards accomplish two important goals. First, they enable fast and easy data exchange. Second, the existence and adoption of these standards motivates software vendors to accommodate them as a value-added feature.

6)      Are software suites, web browsers, and groupware merging together?  What are the implications for a business and its end users?

Definitely, the capabilities of these systems are merging together.  The growing areas such as the Internet, extranets, and intranets are pushing technology towards tighter integration of these capabilities. This merging has resulted the much wider and meaningful approach of web development throughout the world. As for the Implications for a business and its end users, it ensures greater efficiencies due to the collection of information’s from wider options, and it also facilitates the function of the collaboration of workgroup computing.

7)       How are the HTML, XML, and Java programming languages affecting business applications on the Web?

HTML and Java are becoming vital tools for building multimedia web pages, web sites, and web-based applications.  Business can use HTML to create hypertext and hypermedia documents, creating hyperlinks to other parts of documents anywhere on the Web.  Java is a simple and secure programming language, and is computing platform independent.  It is specifically designed for real-time, interactive, web-based network applications.  As well, it uses applets, which can be executed by any computer and any operating system anywhere in a network.  Applets can reside at web sites on a network server until needed by client systems, and are easy to distribute over the Internet or intranets and extranets.  Java is becoming the programming language choice for many organizations intent on capitalizing on the business potential of the Internet, as well as their own intranets and extranets.  The casual user will be able to download the applet on an as-needed basis by using browser software.  This will greatly reduce the cost of having to install expensive software on the users’ PCs.  As well, valuable resources such as RAM, disk space, expensive processors etc. will be freed up for other business uses.

8)      Do you think Linux will surpass other operating systems for network and Web servers? Why or why not?

Linux has come up with very wide range of facilities in totally free of cost. Its features have given new definitions to operating systems. It has to be more competitive and easy to use in order to compete with Microsoft. Over the years it could be the most sought after system because of its flexibility and accessability.But it should focus on various issues below:

 Suggested issues would include:

·         Security.

·         Open source environment encourages users to discover and share problems and patches before hacker attacks.

·         The difficulty of installation of Linux vs. easier installation for other operating systems.

·         Device drivers are not as readily updated for Linux as compared to what is usual for other operating systems.

9)      Which application software packages are the most important for a business end user to know how to use?  Explain the reasons for your choices.

Word processing – software that handles electronic storage, editing, formatting, and printing of documents.

Spreadsheets – software displaying data in a grid of columns and rows, with the capability of easily recalculating numerical data.

Databases management systems – special software to create and maintain a database and enable individual business applications to extract the data they need without having to create separate files or data definitions in their computer programs.

Groupware – software that supports the collaborative activities of work groups.

E-mail – facilitates the computer-to-computer exchange of messages.

Web browser – easy-to-use software for accessing the World Wide Web and the Internet.

Presentation graphics – software to create professional-quality graphics presentations that can incorporate charts, sound, animation, photos, and video clips.

Desktop publishing software – software that provides more control over the placement of text, graphics, and photos in the layout of a page than word processing software.

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