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Software is an integral part of businesses nowadays, both on the receiving and the manufacturing end. The software development industry today is a multi-billion, multi-national industry, and it is simply frightening to even consider running a medium-scale to large-scale organization without the use of computers.

Software is located on the opposite side of the spectrum away from hardware. Software is the direct product of computer programming; an entire group of codes written by the programmer to perform a desired function. The terms "software" and "applications" are sometimes used interchangeably, but one must keep in mind that the former is generally the more accepted collective term, especially by IT professionals.

There are three major divisions of software, mainly:

*System software are software used to isolate the technical functions of computer hardware from the user. System software includes operating systems, device drivers, utility applications, etc. Operating systems, for example, uses Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) to achieve a much more user-friendly relationship with the user.

*Programming software, on the other hand, provides the environment where programmers can write code in order to produce software. Programming languages include C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, SAP, etc.

*Application software are end-user software. These programs are designed to perform a specific function or several functions which can aid the user in performing the tasks quickly and more efficiently. Examples of application software includes word processing applications, image editing application,s payroll applications, etc.

Due to the wide distribution of software nowadays, not just in businesses but in households as well, purchasing off-the-shelf software is quickly becoming common practice especially for those who wishes to save the extra costs of hiring programmers. Another benefit of off-the-shelf software is that it saves the buyer a lot of time, especially since developing software is an extremely methodical procedure and requires ample planning. The main disadvantage, though, is that these pre-written software are not fully customized to meet specific user's needs. These kinds of software are configured more in terms of general functioning.

An example of an off-the-shelf software is a payroll software that performs general payroll services, but lack the personalized features that the buyer might want to have included for company-specific purposes.

It should be noted that there are various ethical laws regarding software handling and distribution among the IT community. These laws should be observed by all software users, to ensure that the quality of all software to be developed are up to standards.