Software Procurement

Software specially commissioned for a particular customer

• Should have exactly the features required
• Developer can be contacted to solve issues
• Developer may provide training
• Should not require special adaptations to be made after installation
• Maintenance contract can be arranged with the developer

• May not have been extensively tested
• May take a long time to develop
• May be expensive as the developer has to make a profit from just one customer 

Can be bought from a supplier already boxed up and ready to install e.g Microsoft

• Ready immediately
• Probably been extensively tested
• Lots of forums online where users can help each other
• Cost will be low as the developer costs are shared among many users
• Many users will know about it and may have discovered and reported problems

• Probably won't be exactly what the customer needs
• May need extensive customisation
• Customer might have to search for training providers

Software that has been placed in the public domain by the programmers e.g Linux

• May be free of charge
• Can be altered because the source code is available
• May be extremely reliable and efficient because many people may work to improve it

• No maintenance contracts
• No one to contact if there are problems
• Updates many not happen or come at irregular intervals
• Software may be for a different platform that the company currently owns

• There is someone to go to if there is a problem
• Should have been extensively tested
• Updates are scheduled regularly

• Can be expensive
• May be inflexible to user's needs
• Deliberate incompatibilities may be introduced so users can get locked in

Software developed for profit by a company. The source code is kept as a valuable trade secret with only the complied code released. Users buy a licence to use it.