General purpose application programs are programs that serve varies purposes, such as developing decision-making tools, or creating documents. It is also known as ‘generic’ software.
For example, spreadsheets, word processing programs, and graphics programs are popular with microcomputer users for home, education, business, scientific, and many other purposes.
Many of these general purpose software programs now come with a built programming language and so this extends the scope of the software’s usage and so fits even closer to definition ‘suitable for a variety of tasks.
Because they significantly increase the productivity of end users, they are sometimes known as productivity software packages.
Their examples include Web browsers, electronic mail, and groupware, which help support communication and collaboration among workgroups and teams.
General purpose applications are available as packaged software; that is they come ready to install from an external storage medium such as CD or a file downloaded from a vendor’s web site.
General purpose application programs
