Ø Application software consists of programs designed to make users more productive and/or assist them with personal tasks.
Ø Uses of application software:
· To make business activities more efficient.
· To assist with graphics and multimedia projects.
· To support home, personal, and educational tasks.
· To facilitate communications.
Four categories of application software.
· Application software that assists people in becoming more effective and efficient while performing their daily business activities.
§ Word Processing Software.
- Allows users to create and manipulate documents containing mostly text and sometimes graphics.
- Allows users to organize data in rows and columns and perform calculations on the data.
o Spreadsheet organization
- Allows users to create, access, and manage a database.
§ Presentation Graphics Software.
- Allows users to create visual aids for presentations to communicate ideas, messages, and other information to a group.
- Enables users to enter typed text, handwritten comments, drawings, or sketches anywhere on a page and then save as part of a notebook.
§ Personal Information Manager Software.
- Includes an appointment calendar, address book, notepad, and other features to help users organize personal information.
§ Personal Mobile Device Business Software.
- Allows users to create documents and worksheets, manage databases and lists, create slide shows, take notes, manage budgets and finance, view and edit photos, and many more.
- A collection of individual programs sold as a single package.
§ Project Management Software.
- Allows a user to plan, schedule, track, and analyze the events, resources, and costs of a project.
- Helps companies record and report their financial transactions.
§ Document Management Software.
- Provides a mean for sharing, distributing, and searching through documents by converting them into a format that can be viewed by any user.
§ Enterprise Computing Software.
- Used by large organization that requires a special computing solutions because of its size and large geographic distribution.
2. Graphics and Multimedia Software.
· Software that allows a user to work with graphics and multimedia.
- Assists a professional user in creating engineering, architectural, and scientific designs.
§ Desktop Publishing Software (for the Professional).
- Enables professional designers to create sophisticated documents that contain text, graphics and many colors.
§ Paint/Image Editing Software (for the Professional).
- To create and modify graphical images such as those used in DTP documents and web pages.\
§ Photo Editing Software (for the Professional).
- Allows photographers, videographers, engineers, scientists, and other high-volume digital photo users to edit and customize digital photos.
§ Video and Audio Editing Software (for the Professional).
- Video editing software allows professional to modify a segment of a video, called a clip.
- Audio editing software lets users modify audio clips, produce studio-quality soundtracks, and add audio to video clips.
§ Multimedia Authoring Software.
- Allows users to combine text, graphics, audio, video, and animation in an interactive application.
§ Web Page Authoring Software.
- Helps users of all skill levels create Web Pages that include graphical images, video, audio, animation, and other special effects with interactive content.
3. Software for Home, Personal, and Educational Use.
§ Software Suite (for Personal Use).
- Combines application software such as word processing, spreadsheet, database, and other programs in a single, easy to use package.
§ Personal Finance Software.
- Simplified accounting program that helps home users and small office/home office users balance their paybills, checkbooks, track personal income and so on.
- Assists in the preparation of legal documents and provides legal information to individuals, families, and small business.
§ Desktop Publishing Software.
- Helps home and small business users create newsletters, brochures, flyers, advertisement and so on.
§ Entertainment Software.
- Includes interactive games, videos, and other programs designed to support a hobby or provide amusement and enjoyment.
§ Reference and Educational Software.
- Reference software provide information such as encyclopedias, dictionaries and so on.
- Educational software is software that teaches a particular skill.
§ Travel and Mapping Software.
- Enables users to view maps, determine route directions, and locate points of interest.
§ Home Design/ Landscaping Software.
- Assists them with the design, remodeling, or improvement of a home, deck or landscape.
§ Clip Art/Image Gallery.
- A collection of clip art and photos.
4. Application Software for Communications.
- Allows users to access and view Web pages on the Internet.
- Messages and files sent via a network such as the Internet.
- Real-time exchange of messages, files, audio, and/or video with another online user.
- Real-time, online typed conversation.
- Method of uploading and downloading files with other computers on the Internet.
§ VoIP (Internet Telephony).
- Allows users to speak to other users over the Internet.
