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software-industryThe software industry consists of businesses involved in the creation, maintenance and publication of PC software using any business archetype. The industry additionally includes software services, such as training, documentation, and consulting.

The leading and most profitable of software companies are based in the US. As of 2008, the client software industry is primarily controlled by Microsoft. Software Magazine’s 500 list in 2005 shows the overall amount of earnings brought in by software companies per area, with the highest being California due to Silicon Valley and the amount of Fortune 500 software companies operating in that location.

A Little History About the Software Industry

The software industry began in the early 1960s when universities and businesses initially started to utilize computers and to seek out programs to do specific computing tasks. Many of these applications were created in-house by full-time employees. Some were circulated freely among users of a particular machine for no charge. But others were made on a commercial basis, and the very first standalone software firms started in the United States in 1959-1960.

The industry grew greatly with the progress of the personal computer in the mid-1970s, which produced a growing marketplace for games, applications, and utilities. And little by little the perception that software should be bought and paid for took hold. One of the original proponents of this idea was Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft.

In the early years of the 21st century, a new lucrative business type has arisen for hosted software, called software as a service, this was at least the third time this type had been attempted. SaaS reduces the concerns about software piracy, since it can only be accessed through the Internet, and by definition no client software is installed onto the end user’s computer.

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