Chapter 2 • Computer Systems 55The Changing Nature of Software
In the process of investigating the various categories of
computer software, we have noted many of the important
trends in the software arena. Building upon our earlier dis-
cussions, we can explicitly identify six key trends that have
the most direct relevance to you as a manager:
- More concern with human efficiency.Software tools
that improve human efficiency, such as object-
oriented languages, query languages, and CASE
tools, will become more popular for computer pro-
fessionals and, where appropriate, for managers. - More purchased applications, less purchased sup-
port software.The advantage to managers of the
trend toward more purchased applications is that
they will be able to get new applications implemented
more quickly; the disadvantage is that the purchased
software might not be able to do precisely what they
want done in the way in which they want it done.
The rising availability and popularity of open source
support software, such as the Linux operating
system, means that less support software may be
purchased in the future. - More programming using object-oriented lan-
guages.In part because of the emphasis on graphical
user interfaces (GUIs), Visual Basic .NET, Java, and
similar object-oriented programming languages will
gain even more widespread acceptance. - More emphasis on applications that run on intranets
and the Internet.More organizations are creating or
buying applications that run on the Internet or their
internal intranet (a network within an organization
that uses the same technology as the Internet)
because it is both easy and economical to make these
applications available to everyone who needs them. - More user development.Managers and other profes-
sionals will carry out more software development
efforts themselves, working with personal productivity
software, 4 GLs, and query languages that are easy
to learn and use. - More use of personal productivity software.The use
of personal productivity software, especially Web
browsers, spreadsheet products, and database man-
agement systems, will grow for managers and other
professionals.
The Information Technology Industry
Many hardware and software products, as well as many
vendors, have been mentioned in this chapter, but we lack
a frame of reference from which to view the IT industry.
Let’s start with the two largest players in the global IT
industry: Hewlett-Packard (HP) and IBM. Both companies
started primarily as hardware vendors, but both now have a
major presence in the software and computer services
arena. HP, long a dominant presence in the printer market-
place, bought Compaq Computer in 2002 to bolster its PC
and small-server product line. When IBM sold its PC
business to Lenovo in 2005, HP passed IBM as the world’s
largest IT company. Both are big players in the software
industry, with IBM ranking second in the world in
software revenue and HP ranking sixth. Both are also huge
in computer services, with IBM ranking first and HP
moving up to number two after purchasing EDS for
$13.9 billion in 2008.
In the hardware arena, the other major players were
mentioned earlier in this chapter: in the microcomputer
segment, Dell, Acer (Taiwan), Lenovo (China), Apple, and
the Japanese trio of Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Sony; in the
midrange and larger segments, the same players plus Sun
Microsystems. In an interesting move, Oracle (the world’s
third-largest software maker) bought Sun in 2010 for $7.4
billion. Still in the hardware arena, Intel dominates the mi-
croprocessor chip market, followed by AMD. In computer
services, IBM and HP are followed by several independent
(i.e., not associated with a hardware or software vendor)
consulting firms such as Accenture and Capgemini
(France). Dell is trying to move into this arena with its $3.9
billion purchase of Perot Systems in 2009, and Xerox
bought computer-services provider Affiliated Computer
Services for $6 billion in 2009.
In addition to the software sold by hardware ven-
dors, there is an interesting and competitive group of soft-
ware companies, although they are dominated by a single
firm. Microsoft, the largest and most influential software
house, is based in Redmond, Washington, and until 2000
was headed by Bill Gates, reportedly the richest person in
the world. Other major software vendors include Oracle,
which began by specializing in mainframe DBMSs but has
now branched out into other areas, notably enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems (integrated software to
run a business)—and most recently into hardware, with its
purchase of Sun Microsystems; SAP (Germany), which is
the market leader in the ERP area with its R/3 product;
Symantec, which specializes in security tools and systems;
Computer Associates, which produces a variety of main-
frame and PC-based software products, with particular
strength in mainframe database, job scheduling, security,
and systems management software; and Adobe Systems,
which has produced a variety of multimedia and creativity
PC products including PostScript, Photoshop, Acrobat,
and Creative Suite. In addition to these big software houses,
there is a multitude of medium-sized to small-sized