<P> Some software applications need to make extensive and / or special use of some peripherals, demanding the higher performance or functionality of such peripherals . Such peripherals include CD - ROM drives, keyboards, pointing devices, network devices, etc . </P> <P> Software requirements deal with defining software resource requirements and prerequisites that need to be installed on a computer to provide optimal functioning of an application . These requirements or prerequisites are generally not included in the software installation package and need to be installed separately before the software is installed . </P> <P> A computing platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run . Typical platforms include a computer's architecture, operating system, or programming languages and their runtime libraries . </P> <P> Operating system is one of the requirements mentioned when defining system requirements (software). Software may not be compatible with different versions of same line of operating systems, although some measure of backward compatibility is often maintained . For example, most software designed for Microsoft Windows XP does not run on Microsoft Windows 98, although the converse is not always true . Similarly, software designed using newer features of Linux Kernel v2. 6 generally does not run or compile properly (or at all) on Linux distributions using Kernel v2. 2 or v2. 4 . </P>

What are hardware and software requirements for using the internet