The difference is just in the packaging. Although software doesn’t need a box anymore, this wasn’t always the case. When consumer software first became available in the 1980s, the box was necessary, since it contained a number of floppy disks with the software on them, as well as a printed instruction manual. Today, the box is virtually empty, containing only a CD or two. That’s because everything that used to come in the box, (the program that would have been on a number of floppy disks, as well as the contents of the printed instructions manual) is now shipped as files on the CDs. And with software being sold both on the internet and in stores, there are now 3 ways to buy software • buy the software on the internet and then download it (Software Download) • buy the software on the internet on CD-ROM, which the vendor will then ship to you (CD-ROM) • buy the software in a store, in a box No matter which way you buy your software, or how it is packaged, the contents will be the same.