Question

For this final discussion, I would like you to venture out beyond the information presented in this class and find a news article or magazine article (something "current") that is related to a company software upgrade. Identify what software was updated and why, security concerns, etc. Explain how the story or example works in regards to the things we have focused on in this course. Given your newly acquired knowledge on these topics, what stands out to you from this story? Is there anything you feel could have been done better?  

Answer 1

Explanation:

Anyone who uses software of any kind has encountered prompts to update or upgrade that software. Software updates and upgrades may sound alike, but there are important differences that you should understand.

Software Update:

A software update, which is sometimes called a software patch, is a free download for an application, operating system, or software suite that provides fixes for features that aren't working as intended or adds minor software enhancements and compatibility.

Software updates are released to address security issues when they occur, address minor bugs discovered in the software, improve the operation of hardware or peripherals, and to add support for new models of equipment. These small, incremental updates improve the operation of your software.

A software update involves making minor changes to an app including bug fixes, security patches, adding new support for new hardware and other small improvements. Updates only change the minor version number. Installing a software update might only take a couple of minutes and doesn’t affect the system's core structure.

Software Upgrade:

A software upgrade is a new version of the software that offers a significant change or major improvement over your current version. In many cases, a software upgrade requires the purchase of the new version of the software, sometimes at a discounted price if you own an older version of the software.

A software upgrade is a set of software that makes important changes to the GUI (Graphical User Interface) and adds new features and options which are not in the existing version. Software upgrade changes the major version of a software. Installing a software upgrade can take a longer time than an update due to its large and complex data.

A software upgrade is the newest version of the software. It usually comes with major improvements or entirely different operating systems that change or alter the application, operating system, or software drastically.

A software upgrade would be adding a whole new component of security or a new feature.

The Main Differences:

Basically, think of an upgrade as a less frequent, more drastic change to the software you are currently using.

A software update, on the other hand, can be more frequent, fix little bugs or make small tweaks, and is often used to repair the product. This sums up the main difference between system updates.

In the light of the above discussions, the software upgrade for an application software called Command Workstation used for controlling and monitoring the different queues of print servers is discussed below:

The Solution:

The software :

In the current context the application software under consideration is the Command Workstation, which is used to monitor and control the different queues of networked print servers in the domain of any corporate network. Specifically, an user can log in into any or all the print servers located in the network as either Admin, Operator or User in order to control the 3 queues of the print server, viz Spool, Rip and Print through a GUI. In its most simplistic form, first of all once the application is loaded into any any user pc in the network, 1 or any number of print servers need to be configured in the settings of the application with the IP address of the respective print servers to connect with it. Then the user of the pc can login either as an Admin, Operator or User in order to control the queues of files sent for printing. While the Admin can perform all functions from configuration to firing prints, the Operator can fire prints and the users can only Rip their files, ie convert the file from the language of their print drivers, like Postscript or Pcl, to the specific language of the printer.The Admin and the Operator required password to login while Users did not require any password.

The software upgrade:

With this preliminary principle of operation, the Command Worstation was upgraded from Version 3.0 to 4.0 with the additional features as stated below:

1. It came with a new look of the GUI with more user-friendly display size and vibrant and attractive color theme.

2. Command Workstation V 3.0 could connect to only 3 local print servers while Command Workstation V 4.0 could connect to practically any number of print servers that was present in the same network or even print servers located at remote locations.

4. Now users also required a password to login with the new upgrade as it was felt tighter security was required to control remote access and no unauthorised person could access and view the files for print which was not there in the previous version.

5, With higher memory capacity of the underlying hardware, all the users can now reprint any file that has been printed earlier within the previous 30 days without the need to send the file again for print from a pc an thus saving the spooling and Ripping time.

The Stand-out Factor:

As stand-out from the points discussed earlier, the factor that is unique to this software upgrade of Command Workstation from V 3.0 to V 4.0 is that, it takes care of the technological advancement with time in terms of being able to handle larger memory capacity of the later hardware and also the largre number of devices that can be accessed through the same software that even includes remote print servers with the advent of Internet technology and thus minimisingtrained manpower requirements at all remote locations .

A Better Alternative:

In spite of the several advantages and advances over the previous version, one definite area where a better alternative could be worked upon is that still this Command Workstation is a separate application software which need to be installed on every pc before it can be used. Instead, if this same software can be developed to work on any web browser using the web services offrrred by any web browser and a host server running at the print servers themselves, there would not be any requirement to instal this application to each and every pc, rather only the host services software need to be incorporated within the print servers during manufacture which could easily be achieved due to their higher hardware capabilities like larger memory and faster processing speeds.

This provides an overview of software upgrade in case of a specific application done in recent years along with the necessary explanations, stand-ot factors and probable better alternatives. Please like the answer if it serves your purpose . Thank you.