How Computers Work, Ninth Edition

Chapter 9. How Software Applications Do Your Work

HERE’S the quick definition of application software: It’s everything except the operating system. Windows, DOS, OS X, UNIX, and other operating systems exist only so you can run applications—your apps. The long definition of apps encompasses everything from first-person shooter games such as Bioshock to the most strait-laced accounting program. Increasingly, the distinction between operating systems and applications is blurring as Windows, in particular, grows to encompass jobs that were once the purview of separate applications: faxing, file management, animation, videoconferencing, and most notoriously, ...