20 killer applications of IT

C

C was a procedural, block structured programming language that was developed at Bell Telephone Labs in 1972. C programming provided a shift from assembly-level coding for applications to developing them in a human-readable form that would be compiled to machine-readable form for execution. It provided memory-access through 'pointers' and mapping of machine instructions, due to which it found varied usage from embedded microcontrollers to supercomputers. It became the base for other popular languages like C++ to be designed as an extension to C.

Email

Electronic mail changed the literal meaning of a 'mailbox'. It is no longer that red bulky metal box hanging outside your door, it is an application running on your desktop, laptop or even your mobile phone, which displays and stores text or visual messages from other email users. Technically, it stands for an Internet system based on Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the appropriate server address, which is unique to the workplace. Around mid-90s, Hotmail created waves by making email a 'use it anywhere, anytime' application and the best part, it was a free application. The trend still continues.

Enterprise Resource Planning

Manufacturing, supply chain management, HR, data warehousing-all of these need systems that can integrate all the data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules. Initially designed to plan the use of enterprise-wide resources, current use of the term ERP systems has much broader scope. ERP systems typically attempt to cover all basic functions of an organization, regardless of the organization's business or charter.

GUI

This is one of the most impactful applications of today that anyone can think of. It provided easy to use graphical desktop compared to CUI (character user interface) based systems. Introduction of GUI in the computing world simplified the work as one need not to remember commands for getting their work done on PCs. GUI became popular with Windows and MAC OS which are the most commonly used operating systems today. GUI application is also incorporated into embedded devices, mobile phone, ATMs, etc.

IM (Instant Messaging)

Who is not aware of Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, or lately GTalk. These are the names that come to your mind whenever IM is mentioned. IM saw its initial days way back in the 1970s mainly on multi-user operating system like UNIX to facilitate communication between users logged onto the same system. Soon it caught the attention of people and became the most popular means of real-time communication via Internet. The fact that you know the presence of the person immediately as he logs in and they could interact in real-time accounted toward its instant popularity.

IP Telephony

Also called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband, IP Telephony represents the routing of voice conversations over the Internet. The biggest reason for the popularity of IP Telephony is the fact that it allows 'free calls', irrespective of the distance between the callers. As licensing battles still continues, IP telephony is being increasingly used to integrate voice, videos, and for video conferencing.

Java

Sun Microsystems in 1995 released a programming language named Java, which was based on C and C++ syntaxes, but had a simpler object model. Java promised 'write-once, run anywhere' with its ability to make apps portable and platform-independent. So you just had to write a generic code that will work on any machine having its own Java-run-time without having to change the source-code. This platform-independence capability proved to be a boon as computers connected to Internet were on different platforms and Java based apps could cater to all. All operating systems started coming with Java run-time environment installed. It not only revolutionized the way the web pages look today, but has also become a primary language for embedded system devices.

Linux

It is a kernel for operating systems designed for desktop as well as servers. Being an open source application, it can be used modified and distributed by anyone. This app helped everyone in understanding how a kernel system actually works. The first Linux kernel was released on 17th September, 1991, which is now included in each Linux OS such as Fedora, SUSE, Ubuntu, etc. Earlier Linux was used mostly at server level and not at the desktop level, but in the recent past we have seen different Linux distros, basically the ones from RedHat (Fedora) and Novell (openSUSE) which are well suited for the desktop environment.

P2P Apps

Not many people are aware of the fact that P2P is as old as USENET, but it was Napster who revolutionized P2P. In 1999, when Shawn Fanning launched Napster, it was an instant hit and by Feb 2001 it had at least 50 million users when it closed, all thanks to lawsuits from RIAA and other music groups. But P2P apps didn't stop there, and then it was Kaaza's turn, and now Limewire and Bittorrent that has made P2P a part of our lives. While P2P lets users share their files over Internet, it has badly affected the music industry.

Ping

In December 1983, when Mike Muuss wrote a program about troubleshooting an IP network, which he named Ping, he wouldn't have thought how much impact this small utility is going to make. Now, whenever something is wrong with network connectivity, the very first thing that everyone does is ping. The ICMP support was later on added to Ping by Phil Dykstra.