Business Online 101- Part 2 : Software and hardware explained

Your Business On The Internet 101 – Part 2

Welcome to our Online Business 101 series. If you missed the first article read it here. In this series we are going to explore online business, cloud computing and cloud solutions amongst other but first, let’s start with the mechanics. How exactly is it that people conduct business electronically? Understanding exactly how it is that ecommerce takes place will give you a solid foundation on which to build and expand your knowledge. There are two things needed for people to do business electronically; hardware and software.

What is Hardware?

Hardware is the physical devices used to access the Internet. You’re using one right now. It’s probably a computer. Maybe it’s a computer that can be carried around, otherwise known as a laptop. You could also be using a tablet or a smartphone. Think of these items as ‘hard’. They can be pushed against or thrown on the ground (although we don’t recommend it!).

What types of Hardware are there?

A few years ago there were really only two types of hardware. Computers and mobile phones. Computers accessed the Internet and mobile phones accessed telephone lines.

Today, the divide between these two devices is blurring. Mobile phones are using the Internet rather than traditional telephone lines and computers are starting to look a lot more like mobiles! Check out the spectrum below.

Computer (PC)	Fixed, can’t be moved	Connected to internet through cable more than WIFI	No touch screen	Usually more than one piece; a screen and an operating box
Laptop	Can be moved around, has a battery	No touch screen	Connected to internet through WIFI more than cable	Is always one piece. ‘opens and closes’ like a book
Tablet	Very mobile, very light, designed to be carried in bags	One screen, size of book, no opening or closing	Touch screen	Connected to internet through mobile networks
Smartphone	Size of a phone, very small	One screen, some flip or slide open	Most have touch screens, some use buttons to navigate the screen	Connected to internet through mobile networks
Feature Phone	Size of a phone very small	May flip or slide open	No touch screen, only buttons	Not usually connected to internet.  Primarily for phone calls.

What hardware devices do you have? Tablets and smartphones are the most technologically advanced. If you don’t have one yourself, try to find someone who does so you can have a play with it. You may be surprised at the different experience!

Tablets in particular deserve special mention because they are the most versatile of all the products. A tablet can be sat on a stand behind a keyboard to become a normal computer or carried around in a restaurant to take people’s orders like a notepad. People use a tablet-type device called a ‘Kindle’ to read books. Electronic ones of course. It is thought that the most popular device will end up being the tablet.

What is Software?

There’s no point having all these hardware products if they don’t actually do anything, is there? Unlike other hard products, like a broom for instance, an electronic product doesn’t do anything by itself. We don’t buy these products for their physical attributes, we buy them because they allow us to use software. Software is essentially the programs inside a computer. One called Microsoft Word was used to write this. You used one possibly called Internet Explorer to search out this article. The internet itself is simply one software program talking to another.

What types of software are there?

Heaps. Gazillions. They might be called browsers or downloads or plugins but they are all essentially software designed for different purposes.

There’s one important sort of software to look out for and that’s what’s called an Operating System. The Operating System is the framework in which a software operates. It’s sort of like the language used to build the software. If you build a piece of software for one system, you have to ‘translate’ it for it to work on another operating system. You’ve heard of Windows, Mac or Android? These are all operating systems and they’re not compatible with each other.

The other important word recently is ‘Application’. Software for phones and tablets are called Applications and are usually much less complex than what programs used to be. Applications are even starting to stretch across to personal computers as well.

In summary, you use an operating system (Windows 8) on your hardware (Dell Laptop) to access the Internet through a piece of software (Internet Explorer).

Now let’s get stuck into how Online Business works. First up, your website!

*PC: Acronym for Personal Computer. When computers first came out they were massive, taking up the size of an entire room. The first time they were small enough to be put on a desk and used by an individual person, they were called ‘Personal Computers’ or ‘PCs’