Software products are nothing but software systems delivered to customer with the documentation that describes how to install and use the system. In certain cases, software products my be part of system products where hardware as well as software is delivered to a customer.

Types of Software Products
Software products fall into two broad categories

Generic Products
These are stand-alone systems that are produced by a development organization and sold on the open market to any customer who is able to buy them.

Customized Products
These are systems that are commissioned by particular customer. Some contractor develops the software for that customer.

Essential Characteristics of Well-Engineered Software Product
A well-engineered software product should possess the following essential characteristics:

Efficiency
•    Software should not make wasteful use of system resources such as memory and processor cycles.

Maintainability
•    It should be possible to evolve software to meet the changing requirements of customers.

Dependability
•    It is the ability of the software that should not cause any physical or economic damage in the event of system failure. It includes a range of characteristics such as reliability, security and safety.

Usability
•    Software should have an appropriate user interface and adequate documentation.

On time
•    Software should be developed well in time.

Within budget
•    The software development costs should not overrun and it should be within the budgetary limits.

Functionality
•    The software system should exhibit the proper functionality, i.e. it should perform all the functions it is supposed to perform

Adaptability
•    The software system should have the ability of getting adapted to a reasonable extent with the changing requirements.
A software engineer is a person who applies a wide range of application development knowledge to the systematic development of application systems for organizations.

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