CBCT 2203

Basic Concepts of
Information technology

Topic: 8
Software on the Internet
Objectives:

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Explain SEVEN types of software that are available on the Internet
• Distinguish between shareware and freeware
• Describe the concept and advantages of open source software
• Explain the term File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and telnet
• Practice ethical and the use of smiley icons, acronyms and signature
to write e-mails effectively
• Discuss Usenet and frequently asked question (FAQ)
• Analyse and discuss the Internet phenomenon

Page 2
Introduction

• There are software available on the Internet

• Software can be obtained free of charge but some have to be
bought
• This topic will also discuss a popular Internet communication
techniques; i.e. e-mail
• In the beginning, e-mails were text-based but now, you can
even send several types of data together with e-mails, such as
text documents, graphics, audios, PowerPoint presentations
and many more
 Internet Software
• A communication • Download free without
technique between any fees
users on the • Specific charge to add
Internet functionality/upgrade
the software

• A technique of
communicating with • Software that can
a server and to use
be used by users
facilities available
for free within a
on the computer.
certain period.

Software
Shareware
• A technique of Telnet
Public
Open
FTP–Source
Domain
Freeware
Data
Resource
E-mail
on Transfer
Software
theSoftware
Sharing
downloading data
from FTP server on Internet
the internet onto
the user’s computers • Similar to open
source software, in
which the source
• Free with the code of a program is
source made publicly
code that licensed to available
be studied, changed
and redistributed
freely.
Internet Software: Shareware

• Shareware is a type of software that can be used by users for

free within a certain period of time
• After that period, if the user continues to use the software,
he/she needs to send payment to the programmer of the
software
• This allows the consumer to make a choice whether to
continue using it or switch to another application
• Examples of shareware are Winzip and McAfee (antivirus)
Internet Software: Freeware

• Besides shareware, there is also freeware. It is available free

of charge from the Internet
• Often, this software has specific charge to users who want to
add functionality or upgrade the software. If not, the user
will remain with basic functions or normal functions of the
software
• An example of freeware is AVG antivirus software
Internet Software: Open Source Software
• Open source software is a software that can be obtained without any
cost, together with its source code that licensed to be studied, changed
and redistributed freely to others
• Distribution of the software together with its source codes has the
following advantages:
̵ Users can modify the software and are not tied/bound to any
company
̵ Users have the opportunity to remove errors that may be present
inside the source codes
̵ Users can also learn how the software is built based on the source
codes
Internet Software: File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a technique of downloading data from any

FTP server on the Internet onto the user’s computer
• Many servers offer anonymous ftp services, i.e. the server allows anyone
anywhere to download data from it
Internet Software: TELNET
• Telnet is a technique of communicating with a server and to use facilities
available on the computer
• To use telnet, a user needs to have a user account on the server to be
accessed
• The telnet technique can be used to access servers at foreign university
libraries, Usenet server, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server or database
server
• Example: suppose a user wants to perform complex calculations that
require high performance super computers, he can proceed to the
supercomputer centre in Malaysia at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
(UTM)
Internet Software: E-mail

• In the early days, e-mails were only text-based

• Today, users can send various types of data together with e-mails
• Server that manages an e-mail is called the Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol (SMTP) server
• To use e-mails, users need to have an e-mail account on the e-mail
server
• An e-mail account contains two parts, account name and the name of
the SMTP server (domain name)
• For example, a user with the name Anis has an account name of
anis@oum.edu.my on the host server SMTP oum.edu.my
 Internet Software: E-mail

Smiley

Text-based symbols to
E-mail Discussion represent emotion Acronyms
• :-)
• Participate in various e-mail • :-( Short forms to
discussion corners represent phrases
• Participated by writing an e- • BTW
mail to the server that • ASAP
manages the discussion
corners

E-mail Signature
E-mail
A message at the end
of an e-mail,
Ethics on E-mail containing:
Smart E-mail - user’s address
Ethical issues to be observed - words of wisdom
during e-mail discussion 8 guidelines for the
• Showing good conduct intelligent use of e-mails
• Ensure e-mail sent &
received does not
contain a virus
Internet Software: USENET
• Usenet is an Internet Business

discussion corner that is Others Science

open, independent and free

• A Usenet discussion does not
Computer Talk
involve e-mails
USENET

• Usenet discussion is divided

into a number of major topics
Society Humanities

that are later broken down

into more specific subtopics
Alternative Recreation
Internet Software: USENET

• To avoid the same questions asked by a new user, a document called

frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• FAQ is a document containing questions that are frequently asked by
users and their answers to these questions