Introduction
Purchasing a software application or program can be a big consideration, especially when purchasing advanced and usually expensive programs such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop.
When considering purchasing these programs it is important
that you or your staff be familiar with the program and
are sure it's going to be capable of what you need it
to do.
On this page we've listed several different
considerations to think about before buying a
computer software application
-Considerations
Competition
Before buying any application make sure there is not
a competing program that may be cheaper or even
free. If available and something that's capable of
doing what you want it to do this could save you
hundreds of dollars.
A good example of such a program is OpenOffice and
Corel WordPerfect that would be a competitor to
Microsoft Word. Both programs are an excellent choice
for a word processor but can be a considerable price
difference. In the case of OpenOffice, it's 100% free.
Documentation
Make sure proper documentation is included. Many
programs today will include on-line documentation
that is more than sufficient. However, it is also useful
to obtain a manual or user guide for the software
program or application.
Licenses
If you are a company who plans on having software
programs used by its employees (more than one
person), you will need to consider licensing options. It
is required that for each computer a product is
installed onto that it have a software license. If a
company purchases the program and shares it with all
its employees without the proper licensing, this would
be illegal and can cause your company to face a
criminal lawsuit.
Price
Look at your overall price and shop around. Because
a software price can change often, you can sometimes
save hundreds of dollars on expensive software. If
possible, do not purchase directly through the
company; many times, the company's price doubles a
retailers price.
Be cautious of OEM software. Many resellers will sell a
program as OEM, which requires you buy a computer
or motherboard. OEM software is software that is
included with large manufacturers' computers and will
only include either just a CD or a slim manual and CD.
This is not what you would find at a retail store. This
option is not a bad option, it is only important that
you are aware of what you are getting.
Package
Look at the overall software package. How many CDs
or diskettes are included, what inserts and
documentation is included, and is there any bonus or
extra software included?
Media
Today, the majority of software is included on CDs and
DVDs. When looking at a program, make sure you
have an acceptable drive that's able to read the media,
While not common today, an example of why this is
important is it's better to receive one CD instead of 32
floppy diskettes.
