Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows

Software and Software Licensing as it relates to Microsoft

There is no need to elaborate on the fact that this generation is witness to one of the greatest explosion of knowledge in the history of human existence . A major part of this revolution is the invention of computers - machines that can do highly complex calculations as well as a powerful instrument for displaying data and sending of the same to every nook and cranny of this globe

After improvements were made on computer design transforming it into an equipment that is affordable

enough for home use , the Information Age took off . And it was able to accelerate to supersonic speeds with the arrival of the Internet . All of these would never have been possible without the aid of software

This will take a closer look at software , the invisible component of every computer that allows a box of wires (PC ) to accomplish marvelous tasks such as storage , transfer , browsing the web typing , painting etc . This component is not actually invisible but instead is a result of creating commands through the writing of code by programmers . It is this written code created through the use of computer language (e .g . C , Java , and C ) that is being licensed as it is protected by copyright and licensing laws

Background

It is common knowledge that computers evolved from basic computing machines such as ancient bead counting type apparatus that later on developed into gigantic instruments that can only be used by the government , the military and large companies . Aside from the price of these beasts - first generation computers that can easily occupy an average size rooms - it is simply too expensive to procure and maintain one

For some time in the early part of the 20th century no one thought that the everyman can touch and use a computer . It is even too far fetched to even think that every household in America could one day have access to a computer . All these changed because of a few design alterations to the basic computer package

In tracing the development of the PC and the Operating System that runs it , Mikko Valimaki pointed out that , In the first wave came software contractors . They established the software industry in the 1950s selling large-scale software projects to the United States government and large corporations . In the 1960s the industry slowly shifted towards software products . After IBM . unbundled software from hardware in 1969 , the software product market took off (2005 ,

. 14 . Unbundling software means selling the computer hardware apart from the software One can now buy a computer without the software - instructions that will run the computer - pre-installed

Software

As mentioned earlier , a standard computer requires software to function properly . Think of it as a set of instructions sent through the central processing unit of the said equipment - instructing the computer on how to behave after receiving inputs from the user . All software at its most basic form is simply a code written...