SCL QUESTIONS

SCL 2 : COMPUTER SOFTWARE

1. WHAT IS AN OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE?

Open source software is a program or software in which the source code that is in the form of the program when a programmer writes a program in a particular programming language is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge.

Open source code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community.

WHY PEOPLE PREFER OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE OVER PROPRIETARY ALTERNATIVES NOWADAYS?

In our opinion, people prefer open source software because:

•      Open source software is available to everyone.
•       It is free to use, modify and distributes.
•       The cost is possibly zero purchase price
•       It is fast deployment. Customers do not have to wait for the next release.
•       Customers do not have to think about the complex licensing models and anti-piracy measures   (activation product and serial number) are not needed.

5 MOST POPULAR OPEN SOURCE SOFWARE

•       Mozilla FireFox
•       Open Office
•       Web Browser
•       Word Press
•       Magento

Comparison between Open Office and Microsoft Office

	Microsoft Office	Open Office
Definition	Microsoft Office is a suite of different applications, servers and services such as Word, Excel, Power Point, etc	Open Office is a suite of open-source office productivity software suite that contains word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, etc
Developer	Microsoft	StarDivision, later acquired by Sun Microsystems
Costs	Starts from US$20; prices may vary depending on version	Is a free software
Operating Systems	Support Windows and Mac platforms	Support almost all platforms including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris, BSD, OpenVWS, OS/2 and IRIX
Interface	Office versions after 2007 included a ‘ribbon’ interface	The current version of Open Office is similar to the MS Office 2003
Documents	Opens all Microsoft document files, such as doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx	Support all MS Office files
Support	Is developed professionally and if you have a licensed program you can receive professional support	Is an open software, a user can received help from open forums online
Sharing	MS Office has the ability to share its document; although a person who has Office 2003 may need to convert documents from 207 and 2010 to 2003 format in order to read it	Open Office also allows users to share document. However, a document created in Open Office will only be supported by MS Office 2003 version.
Components	Word, Excel, Outlook/Entourage, PowerPoint, Access, InfoPath, OneNote, Project, Publisher, SharePoint Workspace (formerly known as Groove), Visio, Office InterConnect, Office Picture Manager	Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw, Math

Comparison between Mozilla FireFox and Internet Explorer

	Mozilla FireFox	Internet Explorer
Developer	Mozilla Corporations	Microsoft
Latest stable	15.0.1	IE 9
Layout Engine	Gecko	Trident
Default search engine	Google	Bing
Support custom extensions	Yes	No
Operating Systems	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android	Windows
Full screen mode	Supported	Supported
Tab Groups	Yes	Yes
Open source	Yes	Yes
Advantages	Speed, Security, array of features and extensions	Address bar provides auto complete, crash recovery, flexible search option
Limitations	Not all websites are compatible, memory, downloads will restart if interrupted	Supported only by Windows, no download manager

Comparison between Word Press and Blogger

	Word Press	Blogger
Themes and customization	No template editing. Stylesheet editing only as a paid upgrade. Most of the themes have user-selectable options.	Google’s Dynamic Views will replace customized templates unless users set their Blog Feed to ‘None’ or ‘Short’
Languages	120+ languages	50 languages
Visitor stats	Built-in visitor stats	Built-in visitor stats
Java Scripts	No script allowed	You can include third-party scripts
Domain names	A paid upgrade is required transfer an existing domain name	Transfer your domain name for free, or buy one
Import	Import from Blogger, Type Pad, Movable Type, Tumblr, Vox, Israblog, Posterous, Splinder, LiveJournal, Blogli, or other WP blogs	Only from another BlogSpot blog. However, a third-party tool called Wordpress2blogger can convert up to 1 MB
Image storage	3 Gigabytes. Paid upgrades are available to add more space. You can also upload .ppt, .doc, .odt and .pdf files (more file types with a paid upgrade)	1 Gigabyte. There is no dashboard interface to browse through uploaded images, which get stored in Picasa Web Albums
Galleries	Simply add the tag (gallery) to any post or page	Slideshow widget (Picasa Web Albums or other external sources)
Static pages	Create posts or ‘pages’. Static pages are listed I separate menus.	Create up to 10 pages, but unlike Word Press no static front page
Categories	Categories and tag	Labels (tags)
Share buttons	Configure any of your favorite “Share” buttons	In the Navbar, plus a “Share” buttons option
Post excerpts	Yes, post excerpts with a “more” tag	Yes. Include Jump Breaks in your posts
Post by email	Submit your posts by email. Images can be attached.	Yes. You can receive new posts by email too (helpful for team blogs)
Contact forms	Simply add the tag (contact-form) to any post or pages	Not available. You could add a third-party contact form.
Private blogs	An unlimited number of invited Word Press account holders.	You can restrict access to 100 invited Google account holders.
Password protection	Individual posts can be password protected	Not available
Team blog	Administrator, Editors, Author & Contributors	Administrators and non-administrator only
Favicons	Yes (called ‘ blavators’)	Yes ( optional setting)
Comments	Moderation, comment editing and Akismet spam protection.	Visual confirmation, spam filtering and moderation options, but no editing
Feedback	A “Like” button. Visitors can put a link to their Profile page in your post.	“Reactions” – a mini-poll option for reader ratings

Comparison between Magento and Opencart

	Magento	Opencart
Template Option	Extensive	Limited but growing
Multiple Store Handling	Yes	No
Search Engine Optimization Friendly	Highly	Moderate
Ability to show Product Comparison and Wishlists	Yes	No
Reporting Options	Sales, Low Stock, Inventory Reports, and Sales	Sales Reports only
e-Commerce Platform Strength	Comprehensive	Limited but strong
Open source e-Commerce platform	Yes	Yes
PHP based	Yes	Yes
Multilingual Support	Yes	Yes

Comparison between Notepad and Microsoft Word

	Notepad	Microsoft Word
Function	simply a bare-bones text processor.	offers a wide range of formatting and publishing features and can create many types of files.
Formatting	limits your document formatting to a font choice and whether or not to wrap the text	a full-featured desktop publishing program, allowing control over every facet of the document's appearance and its features.
File Types	creates plain-text files that contain no hidden formatting commands. This is useful for building documents that are read electronically and would be confused by non-text characters	save your documents in a wide variety of formats, including those of competing software products.
Internal vs. External	internal program that is included with every Windows installation. It takes up much less memory and storage than Word.	expensive software package that must be licensed and installed on your computer
Editorial Tools	does not have any of these tools, and will accept all spellings and grammar as you type.	contains an extensive spelling and grammar library that is automatically enabled as you use the software. It identifies possible misspellings and grammatical errors on the fly, and can be taught to spell new words as the need arises

2. Discuss different types of threats and malicious program (malware) that can damage a computer, mobile device or disrupt any system. 

Malicious software is one of the concerns of the contemporary computing environment. Malcontents, pranksters, vandals and adversaries all have the potential ability to disrupt the conduct of our computing business. There are many terms for malicious software such as, Trojan horse, virus, worm, trap door, time/logic bomb, and so on. The Trojan horse is a very common type of malicious software; it was probably the first. The Trojan horse’s modus operandi is that it appears to be an ordinary useful program which the user runs. Once in execution, the program runs with whatever privileges the user possesses. Most Trojan horses perform the desired function for the user. They often masquerade as legitimate programs or are malicious variants of legitimate programs. They often entice the user to execute them by promising some improvement over the legitimate program they replace. One-time-use Trojan horses only perform malicious activity; more sophisticated multiuse Trojan horses perform their advertised useful function while also surreptitiously performing malicious activity. A computer virus is usually constructed with two objectives. The first is to replicate. For example, a virus may copy itself into a useful program. A virus may invade system files and replicate itself. Second, a virus has a specific function (or functions) defined by the virus writer. This second objective could include displaying a message, erasing sectors on a hard disk, or expanding until it slows down other processes in the computer. A virus can infect other programs by modifying them to include a copy of itself. The infected program in turn infects other programs. The infection spreads at a geometric rate. One symptom of a virus infection is a change in the length of a program. Some poorly designed viruses continue to install themselves in the same program, causing unlimited growth. This defect makes identification of such viruses a particularly easy job.

Type Of Malware	What It Does	How it can be repaid and removed
Viruses	A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your email program to spread itself to other computers, or even erase everything on your hard disk	keep your computer current with the latest updates and antivirus tools, stay informed about recent threats, run your computer as a standard user (not as administrator), and that you follow a few basic rules when you surf the Internet, download files, and open attachments.
Worms	is like a computer virus, but it can spread by itself without your interaction	scan your computer and get rid of it using antivirus
Wabbits	A wabbit, like a virus, replicates itself, but it does not have any instructions to email itself or pass itself through a computer network in order to infect other machines	Conduct safe surfing and use a good internet protection program
Trojans	Trojans rarely destroy computers or even files, that's only because they have bigger targets: financial information, computer's system resources, and sometimes even massive denial-of-service attack launched by having thousands of computers all try to connect to a web server at the same time	scan your computer and get rid of it using antivirus
Spyware	spyware is software that spies on you, often tracking your internet activities in order to serve you advertising	have a good internet protection program
Backdoors	provides a network connection for hackers or other malware to enter or for viruses or spam to be sent out through	have a good internet protection program
Exploits	Exploits attack specific security vulnerabilities	scan your computer
Rootkit	designed to camouflage itself in a system's core processes so as to go undetected	completely wipe your hard drive and reinstall everything fresh - scan your computer and get rid of it using antivirus
Key loggers	log sensitive information such as passwords and financial details	have a good internet protection program
Adware	displays ads on your computer	do not click on the ads