Using Software Application Packages Report (Assessment)

Introduction

A software application package is computer software designed to accomplish specific tasks in the real world environment. Application packages are differentiated from system software in the sense that system software controls and harness performance of computer hardware. Some of the tasks which can be accomplished by application packages fall in the field of accounting, graphics design, presentations just to mention but a few. This paper takes a look at a range of four application packages and their data handling and data manipulation capabilities. These application packages are Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint.

Microsoft Publisher 2003

This is a desktop publishing tool. It is developed by Microsoft with much emphasis in page layout. This is a powerful design tool which has been simplified to aid in production of brochures, flyers, pamphlets, etc. The figure below shows the main window of a Microsoft Publisher application.

The image above has been created in Ms Publisher 2003. To create the above image you click on file menu and select new. You will be presented with a window of many templates. Some of the templates are business cards, flyers, websites, labels, etc. Select a template to come up with the column designs. Click on insert menu item to add a textboxes on the new publication. After all text is inserted and resized properly, click on control button on the computer while selecting all the textboxes and right click to select the overflow feature to join text into the various textboxes on the page. The picture can be saved or converted into a web page by clicking on file and then export as a web page option as shown in the figure below.

A dialogue box pops up as shown below, with a location where the file is to be saved. Type a file name and click on save.

Pure monopoly

The pure monopoly ¹is market type that has the following indicative features; a single producer, market entry barriers that can be sustained along legal, technological and economic fronts, a unique product without a substitute and the ability of the seller to dictate the prices. It is however vital to understand that such competition rarely exists without regulation or prohibition. However, according to Petroff “what can presently be described as pure monopoly is a firm having some amount of monopoly power albeit” (ch5). In such a case, the seller or firm is the only producer of the product. The monopoly competition market will set a market price that is not necessarily the highest but that which translates to their highest profit. In order to bar the entry of competitors into a monopoly market, the monopolist will closely guard a secret production method. They may also apply for copyright or patenting for the product they are selling or use their age and influence or reputation in the market place. Generally, for such a scenario advertising will only be done by such a firm for the sake of public relation management.

Imperfect competition

As far as one side of the scale depicts a perfect competition market, it is necessary to also look at the imperfect competition market on the other extreme. The imperfect competition market will cover “competitive types such as oligopoly and monopolistic competition” (“Imperfect competition” 1). These forms of market competition are defined basing on their “deviation from the perfect competitive market structure” (Daughety and Reinganum 31).

Microsoft PowerPoint 2003

This is a desktop publishing tool. It is developed by Microsoft with much emphasis in presentation layout. This is a powerful presentation tool which has been simplified to aid in production of training slides, meeting slides and even movies. The figure below shows the main window of a Microsoft PowerPoint application. From the screen below we can identify the following elements Title bar displaying title of current presentation. Menu bar containing actions which can be carried out, standard tool bar, formatting tool bar providing access cut, copy, paste, save, open and many more functions.

To open power point, double click on the application icon, and you will be presented with a blank presentation. Select a slide titled bulleted list and click Ok as shown below.

You can use the master slide to configure themes which will be applied on the rest of the slides. To achieve this click on ‘View’, then ‘Master’ and then ‘Slide Master’. Choose suitable formats and then click on a menu ‘Apply Design’.

The content below was created in Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and is presented as a PowerPoint show. Double click to view the show.

Mail merge example

Dear «Title» «First_Name» «Last_Name»

There is going to be an economics public lecture on 08-Feb-2022 at the amphitheatre on the following topics

• Oligopoly
• Perfect and imperfect competition

You are all welcome

Duopoly

When considering imperfect competition, a progression towards complete imperfect competition also covers the duopoly competition. The duopoly competition market “consists of two sellers who serve the market” (Mankiw² 201; Marshal 191; Varian 223). These sellers will have dominant control over the market. The Duopoly identifies “Visa and MasterCard as typical duopolies” (1) serving the electronic payment processing market. Another example in the microprocessor market would be the Intel and AMD, reputed sellers of microprocessors.

The table here below summarizes the market structures.

Microsoft Excel 2003

The table above has been formatted in Excel 2003 using the autoformat feature and inserted in this Word 2003 as an object using the Insert Object command. This demonstrates the integration ability within the Microsoft office family to integrate content between different Microsoft Office packages.

The market structure will determine a number of factors. The understanding of a market structure therefore enables us to understand the forces at play within that particular market. While understanding these forces one can be able to determine the inclination as far as competition within that market is concerned. According to Krugman and Obstefeld “there are no extremes as far as the types of competition within any market set up is concerned” (ch6). Therefore we cannot be able to find a perfect competition setting neither can we find a pure monopoly. We can only use these two extremes as a basis to arrive at the real world competitive nature of any market.

In this assignment, I have used the following application packages

• Microsoft Publisher 2003
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft Excel 2003
• I have integrated the contents from these packages into Microsoft Word 2003
• I have also applied the auto correction, footnote, and mail merge as advanced features in Word 2003 in this assignment.

References

Allen, Bruce. , Doherty, Neil. , Weigelt, Keith and Mansfield, Edwin. Managerial economics 5^th edition. Manhattan: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.Print.

Daughety Andrew and Reinganum Jennifer. “Imperfect Competition and Quality Signaling” London School of Economics. 2 (2007): 1-44.Print

“Duopoly”. Moneyterms.2005. Web.

“Imperfect competition”.n.p. 2010. Web.

Krugman, Paul and Obstfeld, Maurice. International Economics 5^th edition. Muchen: Addison Wesley, 2005. Print

Marshal, Alfred. Principles of economics. New York: Prometheus Books, 1997. Print.

Mankiw, Gregory. N. Principles of economics. Boston: South Western College Publishing, 2000. Print.

“Perfect competition definition”. Investopedia. 2010. Web.

Petroff, John “Pure monopoly”. n.d. Web.

Varian, Hall. R. Intermediate microeconomics 6^th edition. Manhattan: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. Print.

Footnotes

1. In the real market economy there is no pure monopoly
2. Mankiw a renowned economist and author now has Principles of economics 2^nd edition 2006