Software can be subdivided in various ways. In our case we will use the division which seemed the most practical for our goals, and in time we will add new categories:

About software procurement through the Reference Centers It is important that users from the academic community before buying a product verify whether the product they are interested in or some other similar product which can replace it, is a subject of some of the contracts signed by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports with some of the software manufacturers and suppliers. For that purpose we prepared a list of reference centers through which such products are distributed. We suggest that you consult this list before deciding to buy a software product.

Operating systems

This chapter deals with operating systems suitable for desktop systems, i.e. computers at which the students will work directly.

General-purpose Software

This chapter covers office and other software which "everybody" needs (like antivirus software or some support tools).

Web Tools

An overview of several most popular web development tools, as well as tools for development of other web materials.

Specialist Software

This title covers a long list of different products which can be used in education and are of interest to specific narrow user groups.

Within each of these categories there is a short description of the chosen titles (some are described in more detail than others) and a list of basic information about manufacturers and purchase possibilities. In some cases alternative solutions are given, as well as the same solutions on other hardware platforms.

What influenced our choice of titles and products ... It should be noted that the list of products we suggest is not final or the best possible. The list contains some of the products which probably deserve to be on it. The list of products will be brought up to date in time. Your remarks and comments are very welcome. Also, for purely practical reasons we could not list all the products which were available or known to us, and in some cases we had to leave products out. The choice of products on the list was influenced by several factors: software quality, usability, but also availability to academic users and the price. In case when the market offered several products with similar functionalities on, those which were more accessible to academic users in Croatia had priority - especially if the software in question was free or available to our users as a part of an already existent licence.