IdeaWazaWiki - User contributions [en]

Software industry

2009-06-11T09:05:08Z

121.243.141.35: /* Overview */

{{globalize}}

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]].

The largest and most profitable of software companies are located in the [[United States]]{{Fact|date=May 2009}}. As of 2008, the client software industry is dominated by [[Microsoft]]{{Fact|date=March 2008}}. [[Software Magazine]]'s 500 list in 2005 shows the total amount of revenue brought in by software companies per locale, with the highest being [[California]] due to [[Silicon Valley]] and the number of [[Fortune 500]] software companies residing in that area. <ref>[http://www.softwaremag.com/SW500/index.cfm?StartRow=1&RowsPer=50&BusCat_Search=&PrimBus_Search=&PrimBusCat_Search=&RankSort=ASC&CompSort=&trk=n&id=5 Software Magazine 500] (2005)</ref>

== Overview ==
There are several types of businesses in the software industry. The largest and most profitable publish horizontal [[proprietary software]] such as [[Microsoft]], [[SAP AG]], [[Oracle Corporation]], and [[Adobe Systems]]. Others develop vertical-market software intended for a particular sector or niche in the economy such as finance, health care, insurance, retail, automotive manufacturing, and so on. A great deal of specialized software is produced for various niches. 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.

== History ==
The software industry started in the early 1960s when universities and businesses first began to use computers and to seek out programs to do certain computing tasks. 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. But others were done on a commercial basis, and the very first standalone software firms started in the United States in 1959-1960.

The industry expanded greatly with the rise of the personal computer in the mid-1970s, which created a growing market for games, applications, and utilities. And gradually the concept that software should be bought and paid for took hold. One of the earliest proponents of this view was [[Bill Gates]], founder of [[Microsoft]].

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.

== Size of the industry ==
[[Software Magazine]]s' ''Software 500 survey'' can be used to gauge the value of the commercial software industry. The ''Software 500 survey'' consists of data from the largest 500 public and private software companies, as ranked by [[Software Magazine]]. Total worldwide revenues in 2007 for companies in the ''Software 500'' list were $451.8 billion, up 14.7% from 2006, when total Software 500 revenue was $394 billion.<ref>[http://www.softwaremag.com/L.cfm?Doc=1175-10/2008 Software Magazine - 2008 Software 500: Innovation Alive and Well]</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]
* [http://software.computerdictionaries.org/ Software Terms] A collection of software dictionaries

[[Category:Software industry|*]]

[[ar:صناعة البرمجيات]]
[[es:Industria del software]]
[[pt:Indústria de software]]
[[ru:Индустрия программного обеспечения]]
[[simple:Software company]]
[[sv:Programvaruföretag]]
[[th:ซอฟต์แวร์เชิงพาณิชย์]]

Software industry

2009-06-11T09:04:29Z

121.243.141.35: /* Overview */

{{globalize}}

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]].

The largest and most profitable of software companies are located in the [[United States]]{{Fact|date=May 2009}}. As of 2008, the client software industry is dominated by [[Microsoft]]{{Fact|date=March 2008}}. [[Software Magazine]]'s 500 list in 2005 shows the total amount of revenue brought in by software companies per locale, with the highest being [[California]] due to [[Silicon Valley]] and the number of [[Fortune 500]] software companies residing in that area. <ref>[http://www.softwaremag.com/SW500/index.cfm?StartRow=1&RowsPer=50&BusCat_Search=&PrimBus_Search=&PrimBusCat_Search=&RankSort=ASC&CompSort=&trk=n&id=5 Software Magazine 500] (2005)</ref>

== Overview ==
There are several types of businesses in the software industry. The largest and most profitable publish horizontal [[proprietary software]] such as [[Microsoft]], [[SAP AG]], [[Oracle Corporation]], and [[Adobe Systems]]. Others develop vertical-market software intended for a particular sector or niche in the economy such as finance, health care, insurance, retail, automotive manufacturing, and so on. A great deal of specialized software is produced for various niches. 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. Kal ho na ho.

== History ==
The software industry started in the early 1960s when universities and businesses first began to use computers and to seek out programs to do certain computing tasks. 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. But others were done on a commercial basis, and the very first standalone software firms started in the United States in 1959-1960.

The industry expanded greatly with the rise of the personal computer in the mid-1970s, which created a growing market for games, applications, and utilities. And gradually the concept that software should be bought and paid for took hold. One of the earliest proponents of this view was [[Bill Gates]], founder of [[Microsoft]].

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.

== Size of the industry ==
[[Software Magazine]]s' ''Software 500 survey'' can be used to gauge the value of the commercial software industry. The ''Software 500 survey'' consists of data from the largest 500 public and private software companies, as ranked by [[Software Magazine]]. Total worldwide revenues in 2007 for companies in the ''Software 500'' list were $451.8 billion, up 14.7% from 2006, when total Software 500 revenue was $394 billion.<ref>[http://www.softwaremag.com/L.cfm?Doc=1175-10/2008 Software Magazine - 2008 Software 500: Innovation Alive and Well]</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]
* [http://software.computerdictionaries.org/ Software Terms] A collection of software dictionaries

[[Category:Software industry|*]]

[[ar:صناعة البرمجيات]]
[[es:Industria del software]]
[[pt:Indústria de software]]
[[ru:Индустрия программного обеспечения]]
[[simple:Software company]]
[[sv:Programvaruföretag]]
[[th:ซอฟต์แวร์เชิงพาณิชย์]]

Archive:Project fork

2009-02-12T05:50:45Z

121.243.170.233:

In [[software engineering]], a '''project fork''' happens when developers take a copy of [[source code]] from one [[Computer software|software package]] and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software.

[[free software|Free]] or [[open source]] software is that which may be forked from the original development team. However, licensed forks of proprietary software (''e.g.'' [[Unix]]) also happen.

== Branching ==
A kind of fork that is standard practice in many projects is a '''''stable''''' or '''''release''''' version, modified only for bug fixes, while a ''development'' tree develops new features. Such forks are usually referred to as "[[branching (software)|branches]]".

==Free software==
Free or open source software may be forked with no prior permission, per the definitions of "[[free software]]" (''"Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits"'') and "[[Open Source Definition|open source]]" (''"3. Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed. (To allow legal sharing and to permit new features or repairs.)"'').

In free software, forks often result from a [[schism]] over different goals or personality clashes. In a fork, both parties assume nearly identical code bases but typically only the larger group, or whoever controls the web site, will retain the full original name and the associated user community. Thus there is a reputation penalty associated with forking. The relationship between the different teams can be cordial (''e.g.'', [[Ubuntu]] and [[Debian]]) or very bitter ([[X.Org Server]] and [[XFree86]], or [[cdrtools]] and [[cdrkit]]).

Forks are considered an expression of the freedom made available by free software, but a weakness since they duplicate development efforts and can confuse users over which forked package to use. Developers have the option to collaborate and pool resources with free software, but it is not ensured by [[free software licenses]], only by a commitment to cooperation.

''[[The Cathedral and the Bazaar]]'' stated in 1997 [http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/homesteading/ar01s03.html] that ''"The most important characteristic of a fork is that it spawns competing projects that cannot later exchange code, splitting the potential developer community"''. However, this is not common present usage.

In some cases, a fork can merge back into the original project or replace it. [[EGCS]] (the Experimental/Enhanced GNU Compiler System) was a fork from [[GNU Compiler Collection|GCC]] which proved more vital than the original project and was eventually "blessed" as the official GCC project. Some have attempted to invoke this effect deliberately, ''e.g.'', [[Mozilla Firefox]] started as an unofficial project within [[Mozilla]] that soon replaced the [[Mozilla Suite]] as the focus of development.

On the matter of forking, the [[Jargon File]] says:
:"Forking is considered a [[Bad Thing]]—not merely because it implies a lot of wasted effort in the future, but because forks tend to be accompanied by a great deal of strife and acrimony between the successor groups over issues of legitimacy, succession, and design direction. There is serious social pressure against forking. As a result, major forks (such as the [[GNU Emacs|Gnu-Emacs]]/[[XEmacs]] split, the fissioning of the [[386BSD]] group into three daughter projects, and the short-lived GCC/EGCS split) are rare enough that they are remembered individually in hacker folklore."

It is easy to declare a fork, but can require considerable effort to continue independent development and support. As such, forks without adequate resources can soon become inactive, ''e.g.'', GoneME, a fork of [[GNOME]] by a former developer, which was soon discontinued despite attracting some publicity. Some well-known forks have enjoyed great success, however, such as the [[X.Org Server|X.Org]] [[X Window System|X11]] server, a fork from [[XFree86]] which gained widespread support from developers and users and notably sped up X development.

==Proprietary software==

In [[proprietary software]], the copyright is usually held by the employing entity, not by the individual software developers. Proprietary code is thus more commonly forked when the owner needs to develop two or more versions, such as a [[Window (computing)|windowed]] version and a [[command line interface|command line]] version, or versions for differing operating systems, such as a [[wordprocessor]] for [[IBM PC]] compatible machines and [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] computers. Generally, such internal forks will concentrate on having the same look, feel, data format, and behavior between platforms so that a user familiar with one can also be productive or share documents generated on the other. This is almost always an economic decision to generate a greater [[market share]] and thus pay back the associated extra development costs created by the fork.

A notable proprietary fork not of this kind is the many varieties of proprietary [[Unix]] — all derived from AT&T Unix and all called "Unix", but increasingly mutually incompatible. ''See'' [[UNIX wars]].

The [[BSD licenses]] permit forks to become proprietary software, and some say that commercial incentives thus make proprietisation almost inevitable. Examples include [[Mac OS X]] (based on [[Nextstep]] and thus [[BSD]]), [[Cedega]] and [[CrossOver]] (proprietary forks of [[Wine (software)|Wine]]),
[http://www.enterprisedb.com EnterpriseDB] (a fork of [[PostgreSQL]], adding Oracle compatibility features), [http://www.fastware.com.au/docs/FujitsuSupportedPostreSQLWhitePaperV1_02.pdf Fujitsu Supported PostgreSQL]
with their proprietary ESM storage system, and [http://www.netezza.com/media/2004/Weblog.htm Netezza]'s proprietary highly scalable derivative of PostgreSQL. Some of these vendors contribute back changes to the community project, while some keep their changes as their own competitive advantages.

==Other notable forks==

*Most [[Linux distribution]]s are descended from other distributions, most being traceable back to [[Debian]], [[Red Hat Linux|Red Hat]] or [[Slackware]]. Since most of the content of a distribution is free software, ideas and software interchange freely as is useful to the individual distribution. Merges (''e.g.'', [[United Linux]] or [[Mandriva]]) are rare.
*[[Pretty Good Privacy]] was forked outside of the United States to free it from restrictive US laws on the [[export of cryptography|exportation of cryptographic software]].
*The game ''[[NetHack]]'' has spawned a number of variants using the original code, notably ''[[Slash'EM]]'', and was itself a fork of ''[[Hack (video game)|Hack]]''.
*[[OpenBSD]] was a fork of [[NetBSD]] 1.0 by [[Theo de Raadt]]
*[[OpenSSH]] was a fork from [[Secure Shell|SSH]], which happened because the license for SSH 2.x was [[non-free]] (even though the source was available), so an older version of SSH 1.x, the last to have been licensed as [[free software]], was forked. Within months, virtually all Linux distributions, BSD versions and even some proprietary Unixes had replaced SSH with OpenSSH.
*[[DragonFly BSD]] was forked from [[FreeBSD]] 4.8 by long-time FreeBSD developer [[Matt Dillon (computer scientist)|Matt Dillon]], due to disagreement over FreeBSD 5's technical direction.
*[[Adempiere]] is a community maintained fork of [[Compiere]] 2.5.3b, due to disagreement with commercial and technical direction of Compiere Inc.
*[[NeoOffice]] is a fork of [[OpenOffice.org]], with an incompatible license (GPL rather than LGPL), due to disagreements about licensing and about the best method to [[porting|port]] OpenOffice.org to [[Mac OS X]].
*MiaCMS (and Lite) is a fork of Mambo (and Lite). As well as Joomla! 1.0.xx is a fork.

==References==
* [http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Licensing_and_Law/forking.html Fear of forking] - An essay about forking in [[free software]] projects, by Rick Moen
* [http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html#forking Forking] ([[David A. Wheeler]])
* [http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?RightToFork Right to Fork] at [[Meatball Wiki]].

[[Category:Software development]]
[[Category:Software forks| ]]

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