Examine individual changes

'{{globalize|date=December 2010}} The '''software industry''' includes businesses involved in the [[software development|development]], [[software maintenance|maintenance]] and [[software publisher|publication]] of [[computer software]] using any business model. The industry also includes software [[Service (economics)|service]]s, such as [[training]], [[software documentation|documentation]], and [[consultancy|consulting]]. ==History== The word "software" had been coined as a prank by at least 1953, but did not appear in print until the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |author= Paul Niquette |title= Softword: Provenance for the Word 'Software' |year= 1995 |url= http://www.niquette.com/books/softword/tocsoft.html }} adapted from ''Sophisticated: The Magazine'' ISBN 1-58922-233-4</ref> Before this time, computers were programmed either by customers, or the few commercial computer vendors of the time, such as [[UNIVAC]] and [[IBM]]. The first company founded to provide software products and services was [[Computer Usage Company]] in 1955.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Recollections of the first software company |author= Elmer C. Kubie |journal= IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |work= Annals of the History of Computing |volume= 16 |issue= 2 |publisher= IEEE Computer Society |date= Summer 1994 |pages= 65–71 |doi= 10.1109/85.279238 }}</ref> The software industry expanded in the early 1960s, almost immediately after computers were first sold in mass-produced quantities. Universities, government, and business customers created a demand for software. Many of these programs were written in-house by full-time staff programmers. Some were distributed freely between users of a particular machine for no charge. Others were done on a commercial basis, and other firms such as [[Computer Sciences Corporation]] (founded in 1959) started to grow. The computer-makers started bundling [[operating systems]] software and programming environments with their machines. When [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] brought a relatively low-priced micro-computer to market, it brought computing within reach of many more companies and universities worldwide, and it spawned great innovation in terms of new, powerful programming languages and methodologies. New software was built for micro-computers, and others, including IBM, followed DECs example quickly, resulting in the IBM AS400 amongst others. The industry expanded greatly with the rise of the personal computer in the mid-1970s, which brought computing to the desktop of the office worker. In subsequent years, it also created a growing market for games, applications, and utilities. DOS, [[Microsoft]]'s first operating system product, was the dominant operating system at the time. In the early years of the 21st century, another successful business model has arisen for hosted software, called software as a service, or [[SaaS]]; this was at least the third time this model had been attempted. SaaS reduces the concerns about software piracy, since it can only be accessed through the Web, and by definition no client software is loaded onto the end user's PC. == Software sectors == There are several types of businesses in the software industry<ref>{{cite book | authors = Karl M. Popp and Ralf Meyer | title = Profit from Software Ecosystems: Business Models, Ecosystems and Partnerships in the Software Industry | date = 2010 | publisher = BOD | location = Norderstedt, Germany | isbn = 3839169836}}</ref>. Infrastructure software, including operating systems, middleware and databases, is made by companies and organizations such as [[Linux]], [[Google]], [[Microsoft]], [[IBM]], [[Sybase]], [[EMC Corporation|EMC]], [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]] and [[VMWare]]. Enterprise software, the software that automates business processes in finance, production, logistics, sales and marketing, is made by [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[SAP AG]] , [[Sage SA|Sage]] and [[Infor]]. Security software is made by the likes of [[Symantec]], [[Trend Micro]] and [[Kaspersky]]. Several industry-specific software makers are also among the largest software companies in the world: [[SunGard]], making software for banks, [[BlackBoard]] making software for schools, and companies like [[Qualcomm]] or [[CyberVision]] making software for telecom companies. Other companies do contract programming to develop unique software for one particular client company, or focus on configuring and customizing suites from large vendors such as SAP or Oracle. {{Unreferenced section|date=January 2011}} == Leading companies: mindshare and marketshare == In terms of technology leadership, the software industry has long been led by IBM. However, Microsoft became the dominant PC operating system supplier. Other companies that have substantial mindshare (not: marketshare) in the software industry are SUN Microsystems, the developer of the Java platform (purchased by Oracle in 2009), Red Hat, for its open source momentum, and Google for its Google Docs. However in terms of revenues coming from software sales, the software industry is clearly dominated by Microsoft, since inception. Microsoft products are still sold in largest number across the globe. == Size of the industry == According to market researcher DataMonitor, the size of the worldwide software industry in 2008 was US$ 303.8 billion, an increase of 6.5% compared to 2007. Americas account for 42.6% of the global software market's value. DataMonitor forecasts that in 2013, the global software market will have a value of US$ 457 billion, an increase of 50.5% since 2008.<ref>[http://www.datamonitor.com/store/Default.aspx DataMonitor - Abstract from Global Software Industry Guide - 2008]</ref> == Mergers & Acquisitions == The software industry has been subject to a high degree of consolidation over the past couple of decades. From 1988 to 2010, 41'136 [[mergers and acquisitions]] have been announced with a total known value of 1'451 bil. USD<ref>http://www.imaa-institute.org/statistics-mergers-acquisitions.html#M&A_Ind_Software</ref>. The highest number and value of deals was set in 2000 during the high times of the internet bubble with 6'757 transactions valued at 447 bil. USD. In 2010, 1'628 deals were announced valued at 49 bil. USD. == Business models the software industry == Business models of software companies have been widely discussed.<ref name="cusumano">Cusumano M. (2003) Finding Your balance in the Products and Service Debate, Communications of the ACM. Vol. 46:3</ref><ref>{{cite book | authors = Karl M. Popp and Ralf Meyer | title = Profit from Software Ecosystems: Business Models, Ecosystems and Partnerships in the Software Industry | date = 2010 | publisher = BOD | location = Norderstedt, Germany | isbn = 3839169836}}</ref> Network effects in [[software ecosystems]] networks of companies and their customers are an important element in the strategy of software companies.<ref>{{cite book | title = Software Ecosystem: Understanding an Indispensable Technology and Industry | year = 2003 | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, MA, USA | isbn = 0262134322 | author9 = David G. Messerschmitt and Clemens Szyperski}}</ref> == See also == * [[Computer software]] * [[Software development]] * [[Software publisher]] * [[Software engineering]] * [[World's largest software companies]] == References == {{Reflist}} == External links == {{Wiktionary}} * [http://www.siia.net/ Software and Information Industry Association website] * [http://www.softwareceo.com/ SoftwareCEO] the largest online community of software executives in the world * [http://www.softwaremag.com/ Software Magazine website] * [http://www.siprofessionals.org/ Software Industry Professionals website] * [http://www.sao.org/ Software Association of Oregon website] {{DEFAULTSORT:Software Industry}} [[Category:Software industry|*]] [[Category:Industries]] [[ar:صناعة البرمجيات]] [[bn:সফটওয়্যার কোম্পানি]] [[de:Software-Industrie]] [[es:Industria del software]] [[it:Industria del software]] [[kk:Программалық жасақтама өнеркәсібі]] [[no:Programvareselskap]] [[pt:Indústria de software]] [[ru:Индустрия программного обеспечения]] [[simple:Software company]] [[sv:Programvaruföretag]] [[th:ซอฟต์แวร์เชิงพาณิชย์]]'