Abstract

Both the impact of software on life and our dependence on software is rapidly increasing. Using product software is an everyday phenomenon and product software is a major worldwide industry. Yet, there are very few scientific studies reported on the engineering of product software specifically. In this paper, we discuss specifics of the software business, the various terms used for product software and provide our definition of product software. Moreover, we explain difference between product software and tailor-made software from a software development perspective and provide a new framework for the categorization of product software. This paper points out the urgent need for more research on product software and the directions.