Retail software is computer software sold to end consumers, usually under restricted licenses. Until the 2000s with emergence of the Internet, retail software represented the vast majority of all end consumer software used and was referred to as shrinkware because software almost always ships in a shrinkwrapped box. An important historical event that led to the expansion of the market for retail software was the Open Letter to Hobbyists by Bill Gates in 1976.
The most famous examples of retail software are the products offered on the IBM PC and clones in the 1980s and 90s, including famous programs like Lotus 123, Word Perfect and the various parts that make up Microsoft Office. Microsoft Windows is also shrinkware, but is most often pre-installed on the computer.
The rise of the Internet and software licensing schemes has dramatically changed the retail software market. Users are capable of finding shareware, freeware and free software products or use Web services as easily as retail. Producers of proprietary software have shifted to providing much of their software and services via the Internet, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Apple Inc.. Software is also becoming available as part of an integrated device, as well.
OEM Pack - This is a licensed copy of software given by the software manufacturer to a computer manufacturer to pre-install on a computer being sold to a customer. A backup copy may or may not be provided on a CD to the end user along with the computer.
Box Pack - This is a licensed copy of software that an end user buys off the shelf from any authorized retail outlet. They may sometimes be more highly priced than OEM versions as you generally get additional software along with the main software within the pack.
Paper License - This is a scheme provided by the software manufacturer to companies or businesses that require large number of copies of particular software to be installed on multiple computers within the organization. Say for example, a company requires installing software on 50 computers in its office. Instead of buying 50 CDs and managing those 50 individually, the company can buy one copy of the software and request the software vendor to issue a paper license authorizing them to use it on 50 computers. The software vendor then charges them accordingly. This method is also much cheaper than buying 50 individual packs.
Famous quotes containing the word retail:
“A free-enterprise economy depends only on markets, and according to the most advanced mathematical macroeconomic theory, markets depend only on moods: specifically, the mood of the men in the pinstripes, also known as the Boys on the Street. When the Boys are in a good mood, the market thrives; when they get scared or sullen, it is time for each one of us to look into the retail apple business.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)