Chapter 5 – Part II

IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies

Outline

Software - Application & System Software

Open source software

HTML & XML

User Interface

Methods of obtaining application software

Management challenges

Software (Computer Program) & Types

Instructions for a computer on how to operateSystem software

Operating system (MS Windows, Mac OS, Linux)Hardware drivers (connects different equipment)

Application software (“Applications”)Web browsers, Microsoft OfficeUser interface (screens for users) – access to data and system’s functionality; should be easy to use (but!...)

Open Source Application Software

Software that you can see how it is built (access to source code in original programming language)You can modify itCan be freeExamples: Linux, Open Office

Pros: Cheap, innovativeCons: Support uncertain, product life uncertain

HTML & XML

HTML – mark-up language for designing user interface

for Web-based systems; display control

XML - mark-up language for defining content of files

also useful for transfer of files between different

systems on the Internet

Easy to read and format

How Dollar Rent a Car Uses Web Services

Methods of Obtaining Software

Build it or outsource development to a software vendor:

custom solutions but expensive

Buy (Off-the-shelf software): cheaper but not all to your

needs

Outsource (Rent it from Application Service Provider,

Web services, providers of Software as a Service: Like

buying but no worries about maintenance and updates;

control out of hand

Management Challenges

When to innovate systems?

Timeline?

Vendor support?

Where to spend IS budget and how much?

Balance: Benchmarks – Goals – Budget

How to manage vendors?

How to manage change?