terça-feira, 6 de setembro de 2016

WEEK 3 - COMPUTER APPLICATIONS - THE "APPS"

READ THE TEXT AND COMMENT THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:


a- What´s the difference among ALPHA VERSIONS, BETA VERSIONS AND RELEASE CANDIDATE VERSIONS when we talk about computer apps?

b- Considering the distribution of apps nowadays, what do you understand by "shareware, freeware, upgrade versions and open source?
    Without software applications, it would be very hard to actually perform any meaningful task on a computer, unless one was a very talented, fast and patient programmer. Applications are meant to make users more productive and get work done faster. Their goal should be flexibility, efficiency, and user-friendliness.
     Today there are thousands of applications for almost every purpose, from writing letters to playing games. Producing software is no longer the lonely profession it once was, with a few random geeks hacking away in the middle of the night. Software is a big business and the development cycle goes through certain stages and versions before it is released.
   Applications are released in different versions, including alpha versionsbeta versionsrelease candidates, trial versions, full versions, and upgrade versions. Even an application's instructions are often included in the form of another application called a help file.
      Alpha versions of software are normally not released to the public and have known bugs. They are often seen internally as a 'proof of concept'. Avoid alphas unless you are desperate or else being paid as a 'tester'.
     Beta versions, sometimes just called 'betas' for short, are a little better. It is common practice nowadays for companies to release public beta versions of software in order to get free, real-world testing and feedback. Betas are very popular and can be downloaded all over the Internet, normally for free. In general you should be wary of beta versions, especially if program stability is important to you. There are exceptions to this rule as well. For instance, Google has a history of excellent beta versions which are more stable than most company's releases.
     After the beta stage of software development comes the release candidates (abbreviated RC). There can be one or more of these candidates, and they are normally called RC 1, RC 2, RC 3, etc. The release candidate is very close to what will actually go out as a feature complete 'release'.
     The final stage is a 'release'. The release is the real program that you buy in a shop or download. Because of the complexity in writing PC software, it is likely that bugs will still find their way into the final release. For this reason, software companies will offer patches to fix any major problems that end users complain loudly about.
    Applications are distributed in many ways today. In the past most software has been bought in stores in versions called retail boxes. More and more, software is being distributed over the Internet, as open source, sharewarefreeware, or traditional proprietary and upgrade versions.

SOURCE: https://www.english4it.com/unit/4/reading

6 comentários:

  1. Jucelino Santos Silva RA: 1550781411028 6th Semester9 de setembro de 2016 às 16:11

    a) Alpha versions has a lot of errors, and it's not a good idea to use it, unless you need. Beta versions are published to kill curiosity, but may has errors. Realise candidates are versions close to the final version, where people can test and give the lasts feedbacks before the oficial release.
    b) Freeware versions are versions that people can use with no restriction, which all funcionalities are enabled. Shareware version are restricted versions, which people use all funcionalities for a period and later any parts are blocked, forcing the use to pay to use all funcionalities again. Upgrade version is a version which people change the version of the software they have, like Windows Service Pack. Open Source are software version that we can access the code, but has an author and we can't modify it.

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  3. Rafael Moreira Jarola - 155078141103720 de setembro de 2016 às 18:42

    a) Alpha versions of software are not released to the public. Just for developers.
    Beta - It is common practice nowadays for companies to release public beta versions of software in order to get free, real-world testing and feedback.

    b) Freeware versions are versions that people can use with no restriction, which all funcionalities are enabled.

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  4. Darlan Alves dos Santos, RA:1550781421028, 5th Semester

    A. Alpha versions is just the idea of a software, but barely functional and full of points to be improved, so it's only tested by few people from outside the organization; A beta version is an almost ready software, but with parts that needs to be tested by the general public, in order to get feedback and debug reports; and a release candidate is the potential software to be released as the final product.

    B.Shareware is applications that can be redistributed, as long is not edited, Freeware can be used by anyone without any restriction, upgrade version is uptades to an app and the open source is a program that can be altered with the user needs

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  5. Bruno Amaral Da Silva Ra:1550781511013 4th Semester
    A.Alpha versions it is only available to some people,cause they usually have a lot of bugs and errors,it is used to be tested but in a low scale of users.
    B.Freeware is the software that was not only already tested, but also, was released to the public, and being a freeware means that its from public domain(AKA FREE
    /(*-*)/).

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  6. A - ) Alpha versions of software it's just for a small users, developers and selected people.
    Beta it's for more people, some games give a keys.
    Open Beta it's a test version but it's for who want use.

    B - ) Freeware versions are versions that people can use with no restriction, which all funcionalities are enabled, Shareware is applications that can be redistributed, as long is not edited, Upgrade version is a version which people change the version of the software they have and open source is the softwares have open code for edit.

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