Software is a general term for the various kinds of
programs used to operate computers and related devices. (The term hardware
describes the physical aspects of computers and related devices.)
Software can be thought of as the variable part of a computer and hardware
the invariable part. Software is often divided into application software
(programs that do work users are directly interested in) and system software
(which includes operating systems and any program that supports application
software). The term middleware is sometimes used to describe programming
that mediates between application and system software or between two different
kinds of application software (for example, sending a remote work request
from an application in a computer that has one kind of operating system
to an application in a computer with a different operating system).
An additional and difficult-to-classify category of software is the utility,
which is a small useful program with limited capability. Some utilities
come with operating systems. Like applications, utilities tend to be separately
installable and capable of being used independently from the rest of the
operating system.
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