Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
People older than 65 may not use social networks at all, and some don't know any-
thing about them.
Survey Tools Software
One of the more common uses for computers in the modern era is to find out what
people think about various topics. Prior to the internet and the web, surveys were
printed on paper and distributed by mail, both of which are fairly expensive. In
today's world, surveys are easy to design and build, and they can be distributed
globally or to any selected target audience almost instantly via the web.
A web search of online survey tools found more than 50 of them, ranging from
freeware to fairly expensive commercial products. A few samples include Sur-
vey Crafter, Survey Monkey, Limesurvey, QuestionPro, Keysurvey, Formsite, Sur-
veyGizmo, and Google Forms.
Utility Software
The generic term “utility software” includes a variety of tools that manipulate data,
code, and other artifacts. Sort programs are a major example of utility packages.
Some common software utility programs include disk drive defragmentation, clut-
ter cleaners such as CClean, Norton Utilities, registry fixers, and file transfer pro-
grams. There are probably more than 100 utilities, but there is no exact definition
for what a utility actually is because it does so many things.
As can be seen, the overall field of software engineering, like medical and legal
practice, is forming a large number of specialized fields and disciplines. The tax-
onomy in this section shows 20 different kinds of software applications.
Prior to the 1970s, there were only two common kinds of software: scientific
and military. All of the other diverse forms of software began to grow and expand
at the end of the 1960s but expanded with great rapidity during the 1970s.
Younger readers have probably used these kinds of software since childhood.
Older readers born before World War II may have been active participants in cre-
ating these categories of software.
A Lawsuit That Changed Computer History
In April 1973, the longest federal business lawsuit in U.S. history was finally de-
cided. This was the patent litigation between Honeywell and Sperry-Rand. This
was a complex case with charges and countercharges, hundreds of witnesses, and
thousands of pages of discovery documents covering the full history of the com-
puter industry.
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