As a future business professional, people need to know about hardware and software. One doesn’t need to be an expert, but one does need to be an effective consumer, which one needs the knowledge and skills to ask important, relevant questions and understand the answers. Chapter four will talk about the basic hardware concepts and the affect from the innovations in hardware to business, then the software concepts, open source software development, and the differences between native and web applications. Follow by that, it will discuss the importance of mobile systems and the challenges created when employees bring their computers to work. At the end, it will wrap up by forecasting trends in hardware and software in 2026.
What do business professionals need to know about computer hardware?
First, we should know about what is computer hardware. Based on the chapter four, computer hardware consists of electronic components and related gadgetry that input process, output, and store data according to instruction encoded in computer programs or software. It could be a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, or even a smartphone.
Then, let’s take a look at hardware components. A central processing unite (CPU) is “sometimes called ‘the brain’ of the computer.” The CPU selects instructions, processes them, performs arithmetic and logical comparisons, and stores results of operations in memory. Some computers have two or more CPUs. A computer with two CPU is called a dual-processor computer. Quad-processor computers have four CPUs. Some high-end computers have 16 or more CPUs.
The CPU works in conjunction with main memory. The CPU reads data and instructions from memory and then stores the results of computations in main memory. Main memory is sometimes called RAM, for random access memory. All computers include storage hardware, which is used to saved data and programs. Magnetic disks (also called hard disks) are the most common storage device. Solid-state storage (aka an SSD drive) is much faster than a hard drive and gaining in popularity, but it is several times more expensive. USB flash drives are small, portable solid-state storage devices that can be used to back up data and transfer it from one computer to another. Optical disks such as CDs and DVDs also are popular portable storage media.
Next, we’ll discuss the types of hardware. Personal computers (PCs) are classic computing devices that are used by individuals. In the past, they also used in business, but now tablets and other mobile devices supplanted them. A sever is a computer that is designed to support processing requests from many remote computers and users. In computing environments servers can send Web pages, email, files, or data to PCs, tablets, and smartphones that access servers are called clients. Meanwhile, A server farm is a collection of, typically, thousands of servers. Server farms are often placed in large truck trailers that hold 5,000 servers or more. A trailer has two large cables coming out of it; one is for power, and the other is for data communications. Increasingly, server infrastructure is delivered as a service via the Internet that is often referred to as the cloud. The following table is a type of Hardware from book.
| Hardware Type | Example(s) |
| Personal Computer (PC)
Including desktops and laptops |
Apple Mac Pro |
| Tablet
Including e-look readers |
iPad, Microsoft Surface, Google Nexus, Kindle Fire |
| Smartphone | Samsung Galaxy, iPhone |
| Server | Dell PowerEdge 12G Sever |
| Server Farm | Racks of servers |
Now we’re going to talk about computer data. Computers represent data using binary digits, called bits. A bit is either a zero or a one. Bits are used for computer data because they are easy to represent physically. All forms of computer data are represented by bits. The data can be numbers, characters, currency amounts photos, recordings, or whatever. Bits are grouped into 8-bit chunks called bytes. Bytes are used to measure sizes of noncharacter data as well. The specifications for the size of main memory, disk, and other computer devices are expressed in bytes. Here is a set of abbreviations that are used to represent data storage capacity:
| Term | Definition | Abbreviation |
| Byte | Number of bits to represent one character | |
| Kilobyte | 1,024 bytes | KB |
| Megabyte | 1,024K=1,048,576bytes | MB |
| Gigabyte | 1,024MB | GB |
| Terabyte | 1,024GB | TB |
| Petabyte | 1,024TB | PB |
| Exabyte | 1,024PB | EB |
| Zettabyte | 1,024EB | ZB |
People can purchase computers with CPUs of different speeds. CPU speed is expressed in cycles called hertz. One more thing, the cache and main memory are volatile, meaning their contents are lost when power is off. Magnetic and optical disks are nonvolatile, meaning their contents survive when power is off.
How can new hardware affect competitive strategies?
Below we look at three new hardware developments that have the potential to disrupt existing organizations. The first disruptive force that has the power to change business is the Internet of Things (IoT). This is the idea that objects are becoming connected to the Internet so they can interact with other devices, applications, or services. A mobile phone became a smart device by adding more processing power, more memory, Internet access, Wi-Fi connectivity, and the ability to interconnect with other devices and applications.
Another class of smart devices that is showing a lot of potential is augmented reality (AR). Augmented reality is the combination of the real world with virtual images or objects like Google (Glass), Microsoft (HoloLens), and Meta (Meta Pro), whereas virtual reality is a completely computer-generated virtual world.
The second disruptive force that could change the way businesses operate is self-driving cars. A self-driving car (driverless car) uses a variety of sensors to navigate like a traditional car but without human intervention. It makes things easier, cheaper, and safer.
The third disruptive force that has the power to change businesses is 3D printing. As you learned in chapter 3, 3D printing will not only change the competitive landscape, but it may change the nature of business themselves. 3D printers have the potential to affect a broad array of industries beyond sporting equipment. They can print in more than just plastics such as in metals, ceramics, foods, and biological material too.
What do business professionals need to know about software?
| Operating System (OS) | Application Programs (AP) | |
| Client | Programs that control the client computer’s resources | Applications that are processed on client computers |
| Server | Programs that control the server computer’s resources | Applications that are processed on server computers |
Keys concepts:
Two software constraints: First, a particular version of an operating system is written for a particular type of hardware. Second, two type of application programs exist. Native applications (thick-client applications) are programs that are written to use a particular operating system. A web application (thin-client application) is designed to run within a computer browser such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, or Edge.
Major Oss
Nonmobile client OS are used on personal computers like Microsoft Windows. Mobile client OSs are Symbian is popular on phones in Europe and the Far East and so on. Three most popular server OSs are Windows Server, Unix, and Linux.
Virtualization is the process by which one physical computer hosts many different virtual (not literal) computers within it. One OS, called the host OS, runs one or more OSs as applications. Those hosted OSs are called virtual machines (VM). Three types of virtualization exist, PC virtualization, Server virtualization, and desktop virtualization.
When you buy a computer program, you are not actually buying that program, but a license to use that program. Large organizations don’t buy a license for each computer user, but a site license, which is a flat fee that authorizes the company to install the product (operating system or application) on all of that company’s computers or on all of the computers at a specific site.
Application software performs a service or function such as Microsoft Excel or Word. Horizontal-market application software provides capabilities common across all organizations and industries like graphics programs, spreadsheets. Vertical-market application software serves the needs of specific industry like programs are those used by dental offices to schedule appointments and bill patients. Once-of-a-kind application software is developed for a specific, unique need like the US Department of Defense develops such software that no other organization has.
Fireware is computer software that is installed into devices such as printers, print servers, and various types of communication devices.
Is open source software a viable alternative?
GNU is a set of tools for creating a free Unix-like OS. FNU general public license (GPL) agreement is one of the standard license agreements for open source software. Some of the successful open source projects are LibreOffice, Firefox, MySQL, Apache, Ubuntu, Android, Cassandra, and Hadoop. Open source means that the source code of the program is available to the public. Source code is computer code as written by humans and understandable by humans.
What are the differences between native and web applications?
Applications can be categorized as native applications that run on just one operating system or web applications that run in browsers. Object-oriented languages mean they can used to create difficult, complex applications and will result in high-performance code that is easy to alter when requirements change.
Why are mobile systems increasingly important?
Mobile systems are information systems that support users in motion. A mobile device is a small, lightweight, power-conserving, computing device that is capable of wireless connectivity.
Clearly, increasing demand for mobile systems means the sales of many more mobile devices. The reduced size of mobile devices requires the invention of new, innovative. Many more mobile systems mean an incredible amount of new data. Mobile systems offer the potential of Just-in-time data, which is data delivered to the user at the precise time it is needed.
What are the challenges of personal mobile devices at work?
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Cost savings | Data loss or damage |
| Greater employee satisfaction | Loss of control |
| Reduced need for training | Compatibility problems |
| Higher productivity | Risk of infection |
| Reduced support costs | Greater support costs |
2026
Always on, always connected, always communicating, always working, and playing trend continue. Be prepared.
July 20, 16
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