• Application Software is used to perform specific tasks.
• Some application software needs to be used within a particular operating system and sometimes needs special computer.

WRITTEN SOFTWARE

1. It is a software that is programmed or written by a programmer.
2. Usually it takes up a lot of times to finish the software as we have to hire a programmer to create a new program as how we want it to be. creating a program usually takes more than 6 months to be done.
3. it needs a lot of specialties and expertise from the programmer skills to do the program which is requested by any organisation.
4. it is like writing a suite of programs using certain language to perform the required tasks

OFF-THE-SHELF SOFTWARE

1. It is a ready-made software which is available and can be bought from any computer shop easily.
2. it is cheaper than hiring a programmer to do it.
3. it is like buying a database package and build a customised application to suit your exact requirements.