Software is a series of instructions which tell a computer how to perform. This is rather like hardware, where the machine itself actually performs the actual work and is constructed from different parts which can be interchangeable depending on the current situation. Software is used in almost all kinds of machines, starting from desktop PCs down to automobiles. It is also used for controlling and organizing all sorts of devices, like television sets, compact discs, and video game consoles.
The hardware part of a computer software system is divided into two main categories. The first is that of hardware devices. These are the devices such as hard disks, personal computers, sound modules, CD/DVD burners, printers, monitors, keyboards, and so on. The other category consists of the software programs themselves. They are developed using a programming language, generally C#, and they can either be run on a Windows platform or on Unix-like platforms like Linux.
So how does the computer hardware fit into this? To understand this in a more interesting way, it is important to understand what exactly the difference between software and computer hardware is. Software, as it turns out, can only be executed by the computer hardware itself, i.e. on a CPU. So the hardware part is essentially playing the role of the software program itself.
Software development companies are organizations or individuals that take on the responsibility of producing suitable software applications in the form of customized software solutions. They take care of all aspects involved in the production, right from conceptualization of the basic idea to the creation of working implementations. There are many examples of such software solutions, which have been created by software development companies: financial systems, desktop publishing applications, scientific analysis packages, web browser projects, and so forth.
Another aspect of the Software Development Industry is the involvement in the field of open source code development. Open source code is a variant of the commercial closed source code, but with different extensions – for instance, a developer could use the freely available Java programming language to create an Internet application, while a developer could use the C language to create a Windows program. There are different types of licenses applicable in the field of open source code. The most popular among these are the GNU General Public License (GPL), the GNU Lesser General Public License ( LGPL), and the Apache License, or the BSD license. Different types of licensing for different programs is common in the Computer Software Development Industry.
Drivers are embedded within the operating system itself. This is because the manufacturer of a particular computer system requires a specific type of driver in order to operate the hardware properly. The manufacturers of various types of hardware even offer free driver software downloads, so that end users do not need to pay anything in order to get the most suitable and compatible driver. Such examples of drivers are the graphics card drivers, sound driver, wireless networking device drivers, and other hardware components that are commonly used to run different operating systems.
