Cost retail - Software for your PC - who’s choice is it?

Back in the old days of personal computers, less than ten years ago, all computer software applications came as shrink-wrapped disks that had to be individually installed; usually by the "IT" person at the company. Large corporations usually had long-term contracts with both hardware and software manufacturers for standardization purposes. As more and more smaller businesses started making their own hardware and software decisions, it became more difficult for software manufacturers to market their products to such a diverse group of businesses.

As any recent PC purchaser can tell you, today's computers now have "trial versions" of particular software applications pre-loaded onto the computer by the manufacturers in an attempt to market to the hardware buyer. Often, because there are so many choices available, many people will automatically try out the software loaded onto their new PC, not realizing that it is not mandatory to use the software that was automatically included with their hardware purchase.

Today's "shrink-wrapped" CD software, isn't shrink-wrapped, and isn't even a CD anymore; now it is a digital "image" of the software package on the hard drive that is activated with a click of the mouse which starts the trial period. Usually, the software manufacturer does not even disclose that there is only a digital image of the software and there are no physical CDs available. All PCs come with the necessary operating system installed, but often the hard drive has several other different applications such as office suites, business accounting software, multimedia applications, and various internet programs in different partitions. It is up to the hardware purchaser to figure out how to un-install the pre-loaded software in order to free up hardware space and boost computer performance.

On the plus side, pre-installed versions of desktop software can give the user a chance to try out the programs, albeit without much choice or other options. However, most of the trial software can be downloaded for free anyway; having it pre-loaded on a hardware purchase is usually the result of an alliance between the hardware and software manufacturers, and not necessarily the best choice for the needs of the particular user. Additionally, unused software residing on the hard drive can disrupt other applications due to registry issues and other software code conflicts.

More and more small businesses and freelancers are deciding to forego desktop software altogether in favour of web-based online business applications. These hardware purchasers have found it advantageous to completely remove from their hard drives any unused and underused software. Online applications do not reside on the hard drive, do not use up system memory by auto-loading on start up, and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.

Small business owners and freelancers often also operate as the "purchasing department" and the "IT guy", so the decisions about software should take into account the needs of the end user, not the marketing efforts of the software manufacturer.


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