The short answer to this is no – you can’t have software without hardware.
Nowadays though, businesses need a lot less hardware than they once did.
How software application development used to work
Software development for multiple users in a business traditionally required multiple servers – at least one each for the back end database, the application server as well as separate servers for authorising the user. Then, each user needed their own device – normally a PC running Windows with an application installed on it.
All this hardware created a lot of work for the IT department – servers to keep maintained and updated, how to manage situations where hardware fails, installation of software applications on each and every users machine, etc.
Web applications and cloud computing
Web application development has matured to the point that it is now possible to create full function applications of a better quality and user experience that run in a web browser. No installation is required of these applications on an end users machine, in fact the type of machine required no longer needs to be a fixed PC or laptop sitting on the users desk in their office – it can just as easily be a phone or tablet while out of the office.
As well as simplifying the user side of things, web application development also opens up the opportunity to have the server elements of the application delivered securely over the Internet too.
And with the advent of Cloud computing (essentially you can think of this as servers run by someone else for you, somewhere else), it is now possible to dramatically reduce hardware requirements within your business also – potentially not needing servers at all.
So, while software without hardware isn’t possible, it’s certainly much less of an issue than it used to be.
