Difference between an operating system and product software

What the difference between an operating system and product software

Operating System

Product Software

I get asked why do I not have Word and Excel on my new computer when I buy it. Microsoft Office is another product.  Read on.....

The operating system is the software that theoretically should always come with your computer for it to load when you power it on.  This is the screen that gives you the start menu and icons and windows you’ve heard of.  It also comes with programs preinstall like Notepad, WordPad, Paint, and a few games to name a few like, Solitaire, Pinball, and Chess.  This also has utilities that can help fix issues with the system and keep it running smoothly.

There are a lot of very good product software available that is free on the internet like Open Office (word process, spreadsheet and much more), Gimp (photo editing software) Audacity (music / sound editing software), Sketch up Google also has some very good product software, like Picasa,  and of course Chrome to name a few. 

Product software like Word, Excel etc. can be free from the internet or trial software and some vendor’s will install them on to the device before you buy and label it as “office ready” then it expires or asks you to buy it. 

You then have the paid for version like Microsoft Office Suite which we’ll explain later in our next blog, Photoshop, Autocad, Cakewalk.  Just to name a few of the many thousand’s available. These are leading industry packages that are purchase software and can have starting prices from £59 increasing up to a few thousand.

I hope that's given you an idea which is which.  If not please feel free to contact us on our website or follow us on Facebook, you can even send a twit.

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