Many types of software are available to the user. It is the ever-increasing ingenuity of software programmers which allows advances in computer hardware to be appreciated. Programs are usually purchased from a licensed distributor on |floppy diskette|, either 3 1/2" or 5 1/4" format. Some may be accessed electronically from a |network| or |bulletin board system| (called "downloading"). Software is also sometimes illegally obtained (|pirated|), by taking a copy licensed to someone else.
When looking to buy a system, you should carefully examine the software you'd like to run before purchasing your hardware.
