<company> The BSA was created by Microsoft in 1988 in an attempt to combat software theft. The alliance includes the majority of leading software publishers including Novell, Symantec, and Autodesk and is actively campaigning in over 65 countries. The BSA operates a three-pronged approach: 1. Lobbying to strengthen copyright laws and co-operation with law enforcement agencies. 2. Educating the public through marketing, roadshows, etc. 3. Bringing legal actions against counterfeiters. BSA's aims are the same as the {Federation Against Software Theft} but it is not limited to the UK. In December 1990 the BSA obtained the first legal order in the UK which allowed a surprise search on a company's offices for suspected copyright infringement. http://bsa.org/bsa. UK Office: Business Software Alliance, 1st Floor, Leaconfield House, Curzon Street, London W1Y 8AS, United Kingdom. See also software audit. (1996-05-19)

Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and perform other business functions accurately.

A business alliance is an agreement between businesses, usually motivated by cost reduction and improved service for the customer. Alliances are often bounded by a single agreement with equitable risk and opportunity share for all parties involved and are typically managed by an integrated project team.

The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) is a non-profit organization that represents the interests of local independent businesses, helps communities develop strong local economies through nurturing local entrepreneurs, and promotes citizen engagement in local economic development. AMIBA helps communities to: launch and successfully operate "buy local" campaigns; facilitate group purchasing and marketing among local businesses, and; other programs to support community enterprise.

Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) (formerly Washington Software Alliance) is a prominent technology business association, with approximately 1,000 member companies in Washington state, United States.

<programming> (Or "computer program", "program", "code") The instructions executed by a computer, as opposed to the physical device on which they run (the "hardware"). The term was coined by the eminent statistician, John Tukey. Programs stored on non-volatile storage built from integrated circuits (e.g. ROM or PROM) are usually called firmware. Software can be split into two main types - system software and application software or application programs. System software is any software required to support the production or execution of application programs but which is not specific to any particular application. Examples of system software would include the operating system, compilers, editors and sorting programs. Examples of application programs would include an accounts package or a CAD program. Other broad classes of application software include real-time software, {business software}, scientific and engineering software, {embedded software}, personal computer software and {artificial intelligence} software. Software includes both source code written by humans and executable machine code produced by assemblers or compilers. It does not usually include the data processed by programs unless this is in a format such as multimedia which depends on the use of computers for its presentation. This distinction becomes unclear in cases such as {spread sheets} which can contain both instructions (formulae and macros) and data. There are also various intermediate compiled or semi-compiled, forms of software such as library files and byte-code. Some claim that documentation (both paper and electronic) is also software. Others go further and define software to be programs plus documentation though this does not correspond with common usage. The noun "program" describes a single, complete and more-or-less self-contained list of instructions, often stored in a single file, whereas "code" and "software" are uncountable nouns describing some number of instructions which may constitute one or more programs or part thereof. Most programs, however, rely heavily on various kinds of {operating system} software for their execution. The nounds "code" and "software" both refer to the same thing but "code" tends to suggest an interest in the implementation details whereas "software" is more of a user's term. (2002-07-21)

We should try to genericise this bit of the software.

Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.