Browsers
Windows Internet Explorer
It was created by Microsoft and Spyglass and is available for Free but requires a valid Windows license. The current layout engine is Trident; it is not open source. The first public release date of Internet Explorer was August 1995 (version 1.0) but the first stable release date was August 1995 (version 1.0); the latest stable release date was March 19, 2009 (version 8.0). Internet Explorer has bookmark managing, password managing, form managing, a search engine toolbar, and an auto-updater; it does not have a spell check or a download manager.
Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is free and was created by the Mozilla Foundation; it is open source and is currently using Gecko as its layout engine. The first public release date of Mozilla Firefox was September 23, 2002 (version 0.1) but the first stable release date was November 9, 2004 (version 1.0); the latest stable release date was April 27, 2009 (version 3.0.10). Mozilla Firefox has bookmark managing, download managing, password managing, form managing, spell check, a search engine toolbar, and an auto-updater.
Apple Safari
Apple Inc., the creator of Safari offers it for free; it is not open source and its current layout engine is Webkit. The first public release date of Safari was January 7, 2003 (version 0.8) but the first stable release date was June 23, 2003 (version 1.0); the latest stable release date was June 8, 2009 (version 4.0). Safari has bookmark managing, download managing, password managing, form managing, spell check, a search engine toolbar, and an auto-updater.
Google Chrome
Google created Google Chrome and offers it for free; it is not open source and its current layout engine is webkit. The first public release date of Google Chrome was September 2, 2008 (version 0.2.149.27) but the first stable release date was December 11, 2008 (version 1.0.154.36); the latest stable release date was June 4, 2009 (version 2.0172.30). Google Chrome has bookmark managing, download managing, password managing, form managing, spell check, a search engine toolbar, and an auto-updater.
Office Suites
Microsoft Office
Probably the most popular and widely used Office Suite in existence today. It has contained a spreadsheet, word processor, and PowerPoint application as part of the bundle since it was first introduced in 1989. The appearance of Office periodically changes but the basics are the same; the system is available in over 35 languages and requires a Proprietary license. This systems works on multiple computer platforms. This suite never really changes, it just gets updated with each new version.
iWork
This is a Mac only suite of applications created by Apple Inc. which is currently being offered for new computers. It has a proprietary licencese and was created for the Mac OS X system. iWorks contains Pages for word processing; Keynote is the slideshow presenter/creator, and Numbers which is a spreadsheet application. iWork was designed to follow the previously popular Appleworks but it is not a replicate of it; iWork is intentionally designed to integrate with existing applications in Apples iLife suite which is the digital portion of applications including things such as iPhoto and iMovie. Mac always creates things from scratch unlike Office so iWork has similar capabilities but is entirely different from Appleworks.
OpenOffice.org
Also known as OpenOffice, it is distributed as free software and supports over 80 languages. Open Office was originally derived from StarOffice and developed by Sun Microsyestems; it was written in C++ and Java code. This Office Suite is capable of crossing platforms. It does word processing, spreadsheets, and powerpoint; users have a direct affect on this software and how it changes.
Kingsoft Office
This software was developed by a Chinese software developer, Kingsoft based out of Zhuhai as an alternative to Microsoft Office. In China it is known as WPS (Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheet) Office and it has been working to broaden its market to the English Speaking World and Japan Markets. The personal edition is free for download and the WPS Office Storm supports 126 languages. This software operates on Microsoft Windows or Linux Platform; it was written in CodeGear Delphi. This is foreign software and very new to the U.S. Market; the disappointment with Vista allowed others to enter the market and steal some of the market share.
