263 Software Trivia Questions (Ranked From Easiest to Hardest)

Software plays a crucial role in our daily lives, from the operating systems on our computers and smartphones, to the applications we use for work and entertainment. Whether you're a software developer, a tech enthusiast, or just someone who uses a computer regularly, these software trivia questions are sure to test your knowledge and keep you entertained.

Here are some examples of software trivia questions you might come across: What was the first widely-used programming language? Who created the first spreadsheet program? What was the first computer virus? What is the most widely-used operating system in the world? These questions cover a wide range of software topics, from programming languages and operating systems, to applications and computer viruses.

In addition to the technical aspects of software, there are also many fun and interesting facts to learn about. For example, did you know that the first computer game was created in 1958? Or that the first computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart in 1964? These trivia questions will not only test your knowledge, but also give you a glimpse into the many fascinating aspects of software development and the history of technology.

263 Software Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)

1. In the programming world, the acronym SaaS stands for "software as a" WHAT?
   
   Answer: Service
   
   
2. Adobe makes what popular multi-purpose graphic design software that allows users to edit camera images? Its name sounds like a type of store where you can buy these images.
   
   Answer: Photoshop
   
   
3. What is the programming language developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and named after the type of coffee from Indonesia?
   
   Answer: Java
   
   
4. What thread count-soundin' free program in the Google Docs Editors suite corresponds to Excel in Microsoft's Office suite of software?
   
   Answer: Sheets
   
   
5. In 1999 Shigetaka Kurita invented what keyboard additions for cell phones that would eventually replace emoticons and even get their own movie?
   
   Answer: Emojis
   
   
6. What popular operating system, launched in 1991, also has its own mascot, Tux the penguin?
   
   Answer: Linux
   
   
7. The mobile app development company Niantic struck gold in 2016 with what smash-hit smartphone game that captured tens of millions of players within days of its release? The game became a global phenomenon with players largely playing outdoors.
   
   Answer: Pokémon Go
   
   
8. Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle was paid in the "low seven figures" by the New York Times in January 2022 for what wildly popular daily game?
   
   Answer: Wordle
   
   
9. In 2018, what much-decorated Team USA Olympic swimmer went public on the benefits of therapy with an ad campaign for the app Talkspace?
   
   Answer: Michael Phelps
   
   
10. If you work in supply chain management, you’re probably familiar with the top software company in the business. What’s the name of the company that started in Germany in 1972 that’s especially well-known for its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and more recently its cloud-based products?
    
    Answer: SAP
    
    
11. HANA is the name of the relational database management system developed by what German corporation, which is, by revenue, the largest non-American software company in the world?
    
    Answer: SAP
    
    
12. What “M” computer security company, founded by namesake John in 1987 before being acquired by Intel in 2011, is well known for its anti-virus software that is available to individual consumers?
    
    Answer: McAfee
    
    
13. The icon of a white video camera in a green square represents what app that's pre-installed on Apple's iPhone?
    
    Answer: FaceTime
    
    
14. What open-source operating system written in way more than three lines of code was named for a short poetry form?
    
    Answer: Haiku
    
    
15. What term that can describe part of a house also means a way to access a computer system or encrypted data that bypasses the system's usual security mechanisms?
    
    Answer: Back door
    
    
16. Steve Jobs is famously one of the two men who co-founded Apple in 1976. The other co-founder was also named Steve. What was this other man's surname?
    
    Answer: Wozniak
    
    
17. Larry Ellison co-founded a company in 1977 with the rather boring name of Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1983, the company introduced what word into its official name? This new word is the name of the company today and also means a person considered to provide wise counsel or prophetic predictions.
    
    Answer: Oracle
    
    
18. What “U” software is a Linux distribution based on Debian? It is offered in Desktop, Server, and Core For Internet.
    
    Answer: Ubuntu
    
    
19. What “A” antivirus software is a freeware solution available across multiple platforms, with an amoeba like orange “A” as a logo? It is also a pirate word meaning “Stop.”
    
    Answer: Avast
    
    
20. What is the name of the Austin-based software business founded by brothers David and Donald Yonce considered to be in the middle of the December 2020 Federal government hack?
    
    Answer: SolarWinds
    
    
21. What “O” open-source office suite, discontinued in 2011, was started by Sun Microsystems and acquired by Oracle shortly before its closure? Its name implied it was available to users across all platforms.
    
    Answer: OpenOffice
    
    
22. Providing software that focuses on customer service and market automation, what San Francisco-based company has a blue cloud logo with its name in the middle?
    
    Answer: Salesforce
    
    
23. What talking paper fastener, who served as a virtual assistant in Microsoft Office programs from 1997 until the mid-2000s, will be making a comeback as an emoji, according to the company?
    
    Answer: Clippy
    
    
24. Internet mogul Richard Barton founded the online travel company Expedia, the employment search engine and company review website Glassdoor, and what internet-based real estate company?
    
    Answer: Zillow
    
    
25. What color do you get if you mix together the two colors that appear twice in the Google logo?
    
    Answer: Purple
    
    
26. Founded in 1983 in Mountain View, CA, what accounting software was imagined as Quicken for small business owners?
    
    Answer: QuickBooks
    
    
27. What utility company based in Minneapolis, MN offers electricity and natural gas services to customers across the country? Its name has the same pronunciation as a popular piece of Microsoft Office software.
    
    Answer: Xcel Energy
    
    
28. What innovative radio company developed the Music Genome Project to classify music by mirroring mathematical techniques for gene sequencing within human DNA? The company is named after the first human woman created by the gods in Greek mythology.
    
    Answer: Pandora
    
    
29. The free, open-source operating system GNU is a recursive, or self-referential, acronym that stands for "GNU's Not ____" — or what operating system?
    
    Answer: Unix
    
    
30. Jack Dorsey is most known for co-founding Twitter, but he is also CEO of another tech company. What is the name of this other company most well-known for credit card readers?
    
    Answer: Block
    
    
31. What term is given to a software application that automatically downloads or displays marketing banners or pop-ups when a user is online?
    
    Answer: Adware
    
    
32. What “R” database software, an in-memory data structure store with a red stacked logo, was originally written by Salvatore Sanfilippo in 2009?
    
    Answer: Redis
    
    
33. What is the seven-letter branded software standard created by Apple that enables a car radio or touchscreen to be a display and a controller for an iOS device?
    
    Answer: CarPlay
    
    
34. Common in mathematics along with the toolbar in Microsoft Excel, what two letters are collectively used to represent the word "function?"
    
    Answer: Fx
    
    
35. The Ports of Los Angeles and New Orleans have been implementing the PortXchange logistics software used by what Dutch seaport, the busiest in Europe?
    
    Answer: Rotterdam
    
    
36. A type of remote project management software shares what name for general yoga postures that help one relax after remote project management?
    
    Answer: Asana
    
    
37. Kubernetes was not named Kubernetes until it was open sourced by Google in 2014. Prior to that, it was known by what four-letter name of an alien species in the "Star Trek" franchise?
    
    Answer: Borg
    
    
38. What is the tasty name of the series of small single-board computers developed by an eponymous foundation in the UK and often used for the promotion of teaching computer science concepts in schools and developing countries?
    
    Answer: Raspberry Pi
    
    
39. Common, HDFS, YARN, MapReduce, and Ozone are key modules in what popular open-source big data framework managed by the Apache Software Foundation?
    
    Answer: Hadoop
    
    
40. Although the company maintains and distributes many types of open-source software, it is most well-known for its enterprise Linux and virtualization products. What is this company headquartered in Raleigh and purchased by IBM in 2019? You might also see their name written when visiting a haberdasher.
    
    Answer: Red Hat
    
    
41. Just Dance, Assassin's Creed, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six are among the video game franchises developed by what French software company?
    
    Answer: Ubisoft
    
    
42. In 2005, Linus Torvalds created software for tracking changes on files in order to improve development of the Linux kernel. Since 2005, the open-source software has had Junio Hamano as the core maintainer. What is the three-letter name of this uber-popular software among developers?
    
    Answer: Git
    
    
43. While working at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center during the 1970s, computer scientist Larry Tesler coined what three common computer commands first used to edit documents on a word processor he co-created called Gypsy?
    
    Answer: Cut, copy, paste
    
    
44. With "Ai" as its icon, which of Adobe's Creative Cloud software programs is used to create vector art?
    
    Answer: Adobe Illustrator
    
    
45. Introduced in 1985, what line of Commodore personal computers has a name that means "friend" in English?
    
    Answer: Amiga
    
    
46. The non-profit Mozilla is likely best-known for its Firefox browser but also built what aviary email and RSS client that was first launched in 2004 and is currently supported by a wholly owned subsidiary?
    
    Answer: Thunderbird
    
    
47. Norton AntiVirus is an anti-malware and anti-virus software package that has been developed and distributed by what company since 1991? This parent company has a portmanteau'd name and was first publicly traded in 1989.
    
    Answer: Symantec
    
    
48. Since 2016, the tallest building in Indianapolis has been known by what official name? This is also the name of the tallest building in San Francisco and the name of an enterprise software company.
    
    Answer: Salesforce Tower
    
    
49. After Microsoft and IBM, which Texas-based computer tech corp (known for its databases) is the third largest in the world?
    
    Answer: Oracle
    
    
50. With an initial release in 2003, what is the free open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MySQL (or MariaDB) database that features numerous plugins and templates known as "Themes" and is currently used by 39% of the 10 million most-popular websites in the world?
    
    Answer: WordPress
    
    
51. What smartphone app and fintech company was founded by father and son duo Walter Wemple Cruttenden III and Jeffrey James Cruttenden to promote incremental and passive investing in 2014? The company's app features a light green color scheme and shares its name with a seed enclosed in a tough, leathery shell. The portfolio options the company offers were designed in part by Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz.
    
    Answer: Acorns
    
    
52. LiMux was a project for migrating what huge Bavarian city from Windows to Linux?
    
    Answer: Munich
    
    
53. What is the name of the research and advisory firm that puts out "magic quadrants" ranking different enterprises software products?
    
    Answer: Gartner
    
    
54. Mostly famous for its "Notebook" product, what is the name of the open-source community and project taking its name as a combination (in some order) of three core programming languages: R, Julia, and Python?
    
    Answer: Jupyter
    
    
55. What platform-as-service analytics company, a personalization of the Apache Pinot software, sounds like a celestial body turned into a woody perennial plant?
    
    Answer: StarTree
    
    
56. What “x”tremely useful software owned by Cox Automotive allows for car dealers to have direct insight into the cars they sell, allowing for prompt service appointments among other features?
    
    Answer: xtime
    
    
57. What open-source alternative to Facebook, which allows users to generate money or cryptocurrency for using the platform, was founded in 2011 in Glastonbury, CT? A popular CBS police procedural deals with the Criminal versions of this company’s one-word name.
    
    Answer: Minds
    
    
58. What three-lettered invention of Heineken is a green robotic cooler that can autonomously deliver beer to customers? Its name is a common shorthand for robots, and also for a software application that runs automated online tasks.
    
    Answer: BOT
    
    
59. If you're down with OCP, you might have read Bertrand Meyers's "Object Oriented Software Construction" and understand the WHAT-WHAT principle?
    
    Answer: Open-Closed
    
    
60. The SWORD Project is an open-source project designed to encourage development of software related to what ancient religious text?
    
    Answer: The Bible
    
    
61. What art museum in Aarhus, Denmark, established in 1859 and the oldest art museum in Denmark that’s not in Copenhagen, displays pop art and architecture, as well as famous works of Danish art? It shares its four-letter name with a river in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, as well as an AmigaOS software.
    
    Answer: AROS Aarhus Art Museum
    
    
62. What "P" word can describe both a square sewn over a hole in clothing, or a set of changes to update, fix, or improve a software program?
    
    Answer: Patch
    
    
63. What is the name of the software that can screen an image or document for text and make it readable and searchable (For example, converting a PDF to a text file)?
    
    Answer: Optical Character Recognition
    
    
64. What is the name of the software framework developed and maintained by Microsoft that was first built in the late 1990s and continues to primarily run on Windows machines with the C# language? Fun fact: this is a key piece of the Water Cooler Trivia stack.
    
    Answer: .NET
    
    
65. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the world’s first electronic digital computer, was built during the 1930s in what U.S. state nicknamed the “Hawkeye State”?
    
    Answer: Iowa
    
    
66. Meant to make programming easy for beginners, what Microsoft legacy product is a third-generation event-driven programming language that was first released in 1991?
    
    Answer: Visual Basic
    
    
67. What regulatory group assigns content rating and suggested age ratings for video games? This group's four-letter initialism is featured near the rating on most video game packaging.
    
    Answer: Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
    
    
68. With revenue over $700 million in 2018 and more than 20 years in the education technology market, what is the name of the privately held DC-based company which claims more than 17,000 schools and organizations in 100 countries as customers? The company's name is likely to remind you of something you'd find in a school.
    
    Answer: Blackboard Inc
    
    
69. What company providing hosting for software development and distributed version control familiar to computer programmers is known for its iconic Octocat (part cat, part octopus) logo?
    
    Answer: Github
    
    
70. Playing on the acronym CHEF, the Sakai Learning Management System was named for Hiroyuki Sakai, a star of what Japanese competition show set in Kitchen Stadium?
    
    Answer: Iron Chef
    
    
71. What “A” software is open-source provisioning, configuration management, and application-deployment tool? It was originally authored by Michael DeHaan and given a stable release in July 2021.
    
    Answer: Ansible
    
    
72. Unicode, the standard for character encoding used to represent multilingual text as binary, is the successor of what US encoding standard?
    
    Answer: ASCII
    
    
73. Represented by a white camera in a blue teardrop icon, what is the name of Google's video chat mobile app?
    
    Answer: Duo
    
    
74. What is the Spain-headquartered software company, with annual revenue of more than $5.5 billion, that creates technology for travel searches, accommodation and transportation bookings, and more? The company shares its name with a famous composer’s middle name.
    
    Answer: Amadeus
    
    
75. Born in Bulgaria before attending Thomas Jefferson High School in Virginia and Stanford University in California, Vlad Tenev founded defunct trading company Celeris and then software company Chronos Research before eventually founding what still-functioning company in 2013?
    
    Answer: Robinhood
    
    
76. Which discontinued spreadsheet program, originally written by Jonathan Sachs, peaked in popularity in the late 1980s after its release in January 1983? This spreadsheet program was the first computer software to use television consumer advertising.
    
    Answer: Lotus 1-2-3
    
    
77. Vinod Khosla, a billionaire and founder of an eponymous venture capital firm, is also a cofounder of what company that created the Java programming language?
    
    Answer: Sun Microsystems
    
    
78. A full-time Apple employee from 1992 to 2019, what man became Apple's first Chief Design Officer in 2015?
    
    Answer: Jony Ive
    
    
79. What programming language developed by Larry Wall is associated with a camel, the image that appeared on the language's first printed programming manual back in 1991?
    
    Answer: Perl
    
    
80. An early spreadsheet application that competed with Microsoft Excel was named after a flower in the family Nelumbonaceae. What was the name of this software that was acquired by IBM?
    
    Answer: Lotus
    
    
81. What is the name of the programming language maintained by Microsoft that is considered a "strict syntactical superset" of JavaScript? The language was designed for developing large applications and it transcompiles into JavaScript.
    
    Answer: TypeScript
    
    
82. What term is used for a piece of software, a particular kind of user interface, that guides a user through a series of well-defined steps to complete a task?
    
    Answer: Wizard
    
    
83. Often associated with the software development strategy of Agile, what is the software engineering practice that unifies software operations with software development?
    
    Answer: DevOps
    
    
84. Founded in 2015, what company, which is named after something you'd find in an apiary, bills its main software product as "the #1 productivity platform for fast-moving teams?"
    
    Answer: Hive
    
    
85. Applying to some apps written in C#, C++, Visual Basic, or JavaScript, the abbreviation UWP stands for Universal WHAT Platform?
    
    Answer: Windows
    
    
86. What is the three-letter initialism for the markup language that was first formally spec'd by the World Wide Web Consortium in 1998 and is designed with goals of simplicity, generality, and usability across the internet?
    
    Answer: XML
    
    
87. What is the name of the 2012-founded San Francisco-based company that uses a spreadsheet-database hybrid in which features of a database are applied to a spreadsheet? Founded by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas, the company widely shares its API for connecting other online services and has raised more than $300 million in funding (as of early 2021).
    
    Answer: Airtable
    
    
88. In 2009, the White House switched its website's CMS from a proprietary system to what popular "D" open-source CMS system that was initially released in 2001?
    
    Answer: Drupal
    
    
89. In what year did the first AWS (Amazon Web Services) service launch to the public? We'll give you credit if your response is within two years of the correct answer.
    
    Answer: 2004 (2002 - 2006 accepted)
    
    
90. What British woman is considered to have written the first ever piece of computer software, developing an algorithm for Charles Babbage’s theoretical Analytical Engine in the 1840s? She was the only child of George Gordon, Lord Byron, she is best known with an “L” last name.
    
    Answer: Ada Lovelace
    
    
91. What is the name of the online service and iOS app used for over-the-air installation and testing of mobile applications on Apple devices? This program is owned by Apple and is frequently used for downloading and testing alpha and beta versions of apps.
    
    Answer: TestFlight
    
    
92. Deeper Insights, Five AI, and Beyond Analysis are some of the top AI companies in what international city?
    
    Answer: London
    
    
93. In 2013, a software bug caused what financial technology company to erroneously credit customer Chris Reynold's account with 92 quadrillion dollars, although the error was quickly corrected?
    
    Answer: PayPal
    
    
94. Before the name Java, the coding language was known by what arboreal name that also has poignancy in the Pokémon universe?
    
    Answer: Oak
    
    
95. Since 2016, the Sacramento Kings have been owned by what TIBCO Software founder and first person of Indian descent to own an NBA team?
    
    Answer: Vivek Ranadivé
    
    
96. Written in Python and used as an open-source workflow management platform, what is the name of the "ventilated" Apache-managed project started at Airbnb in 2014 and designed under the "configuration as code" principle?
    
    Answer: Airflow
    
    
97. What “C” cybersecurity, founded in Sunnyvale, CA in 2011, has a two-word name that implies it can attack problems quickly across a variety of software? Its logo is a red hawk swooping in.
    
    Answer: Crowdstrike
    
    
98. What is the "sunny" parent company of InvestorInfo, PitchBook, and ByAllAccounts?
    
    Answer: Morningstar
    
    
99. What “P” software and database company was founded in 2014 by Navin Chaddha, and is owned by Pure Storage? Its name is a compound word of a parking place for boats and a unit of physical effort with an “x” at the end.
    
    Answer: Portworx
    
    
100. In September 2020, the food delivery company Rappi raised an additional $150 million to further fund its expansion in what continent?
     
     Answer: South America
     
     
101. What is the five-letter name for the general-purpose programming language first released in 2004 that was designed to be concise and address criticisms of Java? This language was designed by Martin Odersky and is the basis for Apache Spark.
     
     Answer: Scala
     
     
102. Wazuh is a free, open-source software for threat detection and integrity monitoring. Its logo resembles a coyote, and is made out of what color?
     
     Answer: Blue
     
     
103. What “Z” software company, opened in 2005 in Sunnyvale, California and acquired by BETSOL in 2018, contributes to many open-source projects? Its name is reminiscent of the first name of the young star of the “Mamma Mia” films, with a Z replacing the first letter.
     
     Answer: Zmanda
     
     
104. Created in 2009 and based in Austin, Texas, what “A” software company helps optimize workplace productivity in the remote space by streamlining workflow and limiting distractions, keeping employees energetic?
     
     Answer: ActivTrak
     
     
105. What website design and implementation tool was founded by Bryant Chou, Sergie Magdalin, and Vlad Magdalin in 2012 and did not raise a series A fundraising round until 2019? However, when they raised that round of funding, it was a cash injection of more than $70 million.
     
     Answer: Webflow
     
     
106. What’s the name of the plain-text version of a computer program that humans can read and (maybe) understand?
     
     Answer: Source Code
     
     
107. What is the five-letter name of the London-based company that provides software for virtual events and raised *three* rounds of venture capital in 2020 totaling more than $170 million? The company grew from 5,000 to over 3 million users during the year.
     
     Answer: Hopin
     
     
108. Which type of computer database supports storage of all data types, with specific attributes and methods for each individual item of data?
     
     Answer: Object-oriented database
     
     
109. Software developers at Disney created Hyperion, a program to produce more realistic animated scenes by determining the correct angle and intensity of light and shadows, that is Disney’s in-house version of what type of software?
     
     Answer: Renderer
     
     
110. What “K” IT infrastructure technology company, based out of Armonk, New York, started as a spinoff of IBM? Its logo is its own name, spelled out in lowercase orange letters.
     
     Answer: Kyndryl
     
     
111. Developed by Dan Dennedy, what free and open-source video-editing program was first released in 2011 and can be used across platforms including FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, and Windows?
     
     Answer: Shotcut
     
     
112. What is the name of the Egypt-based software company that primarily offers a bug reporting tool with a "Shake to Send" feature? The company integrates with many other tools thought its SDK and raised $5 million in a Series A led by Accel in 2020.
     
     Answer: Instabug
     
     
113. What "R" ransomware, known for targeting large public-entity Microsoft systems, may install itself by way of the Trickbot Trojan malware?
     
     Answer: Ryuk
     
     
114. MPEG video-audio files get their name from the groups that were tasked with standardizing them. What is MPEG an acronym for?
     
     Answer: Moving Picture Experts Group
     
     
115. The “Big Four” in the tech industry are Google (Alphabet), Apple, Meta (Facebook), and Amazon. Which corporation known for computers, software, and Bill Gates, is sometimes added to form the “Big Five” (or GAMAF)?
     
     Answer: Microsoft
     
     
116. A Real-Time ______ System or RTOS can handle a lot of events happening at once that need to be processed in a timely fashion—think the software that handles air traffic control.
     
     Answer: Operating
     
     
117. In 1994, which computer company launched its first web browser, Navigator?
     
     Answer: Netscape
     
     
118. In 2017, Misys merged with D+H to form the third-largest financial services company in the world. Now providing its software and other products to more than 8,600 institutions globally, what’s the company’s name?
     
     Answer: Finastra
     
     
119. Throughout the ‘90s and 2000s, some updated versions of Windows operating systems—for example, 98 and 11—had “SE” after them. What was SE short for?
     
     Answer: Second Edition
     
     
120. Which utensil term describes when software gets updated or a protocol is changed so that the blockchain splits and “forges its own path,” so to speak? (Hint: They can be “hard” or “soft”)
     
     Answer: Forks
     
     
121. If you were trying to download music circa 2000, which free P2P software program with a fruity name did you probably rely on?
     
     Answer: LimeWire
     
     
122. In 1997, which Microsoft media player with custom visualizations, plug-ins, and cool skins hit the scene just in time to take advantage of the mp3 trend and soon became one of the most downloaded Windows applications ever?
     
     Answer: Winamp
     
     
123. What “n” is an informal term for software which is free for a trial period and thereafter frequently reminds the user to pay for it?
     
     Answer: Nagware
     
     
124. Launched in 1992 by a team at the University of Kansas, which text-based web browser shares a name with a wild cat?
     
     Answer: Lynx
     
     
125. Martin A. Goetz, a pioneer in the development of the commercial software industry, received the first patent for software from The United States Patent and Trademark Office in which 20th century decade?
     
     Answer: 1960s
     
     
126. Despite its name, which Swedish startup founded in 2013 makes a big promise to be “the first PDF software you’ll actually like?”
     
     Answer: Smallpdf
     
     
127. It sounds like a circus performer from Taos and allows you to download PDFs with the greatest of ease. I'm talking about what A-word family of software?
     
     Answer: Adobe Acrobat
     
     
128. In the 1970s, Charles Simonyi invented a word processing program called Bravo. Bravo is now considered one of the first types of what seven-word editing software that allows users to see content as it would appear when displayed on an interface, webpage, printed document, etc.?
     
     Answer: What You See Is What You Get
     
     
129. What term is used for a testing environment in a computer system in which new or untested software or coding can be run securely? In a different context, this term refers to a children’s play area.
     
     Answer: Sandbox
     
     
130. On the market for four decades, AutoCAD is a specific brand of CAD software. CAD stands for "Computer-Aided" WHAT?
     
     Answer: Design
     
     
131. "Ordinateur" is the word for "computer," and "logiciel" is the word for "software," in what Romance language?
     
     Answer: French
     
     
132. Which free desktop app by Sinew Software Systems securely stores passwords and other sensitive user data locally instead of on servers?
     
     Answer: Enpass
     
     
133. Hiro Protagonist is a hacker fighting the insidious influence of a virus that affects both computers and human beings in what 1992 sci-fi novel by Neal Stephenson?
     
     Answer: Snow Crash
     
     
134. VLC media player is free, open-source software that was first developed by students in France in the mid-90s. After being retooled by a global group of contributors, it officially launched in 2001. It was originally called VideoLAN ______ (VLC).
     
     Answer: Client
     
     
135. Headquartered in LA, which global fintech company with a name that combines a color and geometric term provides cloud-based financial management software to huge corporations like Costco, Netflix, and Google?
     
     Answer: Blackline
     
     
136. Which financial software from Envestnet offers client features like Play Zone and is considered the most popular among advisors (at least in terms of market share by user—it was at 36% in 2021)?
     
     Answer: MoneyGuidePro
     
     
137. Which Adobe web design software sounds like something you’d use to code a page in your sleep, or a 1975 song by Gary Wright?
     
     Answer: Dreamweaver
     
     
138. In September 2022, what video game company acknowledged a massive leak of assets from an upcoming release of a game in its popular Grand Theft Auto franchise?
     
     Answer: Rockstar
     
     
139. Which French financial software startup with unicorn status bills itself (no pun intended) as “the future of payroll and HR?”
     
     Answer: Payfit
     
     
140. Which F-term refers to software that’s built into hardware, like a BIOS?
     
     Answer: Firmware
     
     
141. Which AWS lets you plan and run all kinds of computing jobs at once (in a bunch, you might say) without having to manage it or download any third-party software?
     
     Answer: Batch
     
     
142. What was the spooky name of the first computer worm, created in 1971, that could be defeated by the first antivirus software (aptly named Reaper)?
     
     Answer: Creeper
     
     
143. Billing itself as "The World's #1 Identity Platform," what cloud software company gets its four-letter name from a meteorological unit used to describe the amount of cloud cover at a given location?
     
     Answer: Okta
     
     
144. Back in the late ‘90s when you couldn’t quickly edit photos or make a gif on any device, you probably downloaded which free, open-source graphics editing software with an icon that’s a dog with a paintbrush in its mouth? (Hint: It's an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program)
     
     Answer: GIMP
     
     
145. Which type of “bomb” is a bit of code put into software that is set up to trigger a malicious function if certain conditions are met? For example, some computer worms were infamously designed to attack on certain dates, like Friday the 13th.
     
     Answer: Logic
     
     
146. Which type of software includes operating systems and utility programs, and is essentially the foundation you need to lay to be able to run other software on your machine—for example, applications?
     
     Answer: System
     
     
147. What’s the name of the macOS released on October 24, 2022, that brought features like Stage Manager and updates to Messages to Macs? (Hint: It’s a place in California, too)
     
     Answer: Ventura
     
     
148. What "A" word important to software developers comes from a transliteration of the Arabic "al-Khwarizmi," a native of the area now known as Uzbekistan?
     
     Answer: Algorithm
     
     
149. Mozilla is a free software community best known for its web browser Firefox. What is the name of Mozilla’s email client product?
     
     Answer: Thunderbird
     
     
150. In 2008, Texas Instruments introduced a single-board computer designed for hobbyists and as an educational tool for the development of open-source software. The board is known as a ______ Board, with what canine word filling in the blank? (If you "snoop" on their website, you'll see many different models are currently available.)
     
     Answer: Beagle
     
     
151. He had intended to call it Freax, but his friend changed the name without consulting him. Finnish American software engineer Linus Torvalds is best known as the creator of what piece of open-source software?
     
     Answer: Linux
     
     
152. If you wanted to type up a “flawless” document in the 1980s or early 1990s, which Windows word processor would you use? (Hint: It was owned by Novell before being acquired by Corel in 1996, and your file would be saved in “.wpd” format)
     
     Answer: WordPerfect
     
     
153. Rami Malek won an Emmy playing brilliant but unstable cybersecurity expert and vigilante hacker Elliot Alderson on what USA Network series that aired from 2015 to 2019?
     
     Answer: Mr. Robot
     
     
154. Which free, open-source media player with a traffic cone desktop icon did you probably have on your computer circa 2001? (Hint: The original name was VideoLANClient, but that name didn’t stick as the software gained more capabilities)
     
     Answer: VLC
     
     
155. A Content ______ System (CMS) is a “backend” software application that makes it easy for even non-designers to create and modify a website’s content.
     
     Answer: Management
     
     
156. One of the most popular software programs for music notation and composition has what "S" name, after the man who many consider to be Finland's national composer?
     
     Answer: Sibelius
     
     
157. It sounds like the software is headed to the gallows, but which term actually means that a piece of code is telling a computer what to do (like giving it instructions)?
     
     Answer: Executable
     
     
158. In 2000, a software engineer named Steve Gibson was the first person to describe what kind of software that steals personal information? (He defined it as any software that “employs a user’s Internet connection in the background (the so-called "backchannel") without their knowledge or explicit permission" but the definition has expanded as technology has evolved)
     
     Answer: Spyware
     
     
159. In the early ‘90s, Symantec acquired a software program developed by a computer programmer named Peter Norton. It’s since become one of the most commonly used and well-known of which kind of computer security software?
     
     Answer: Antivirus
     
     
160. In 1979, Apple released its first spreadsheet computer program for the Apple II. What was the software called?
     
     Answer: VisiCalc
     
     
161. Which database analytics software company has been in the game since 1979 and has a name that will make you think of ~1 trillion bytes?
     
     Answer: Teradata
     
     
162. If you work in supply chain management, you likely use enterprise ______ planning (ERP) software at each stage of the process—from planning, producing, and moving goods to keeping track of finances.
     
     Answer: Resource
     
     
163. The name makes it sound like it’s cool and up on the times, but which popular Canadian accounting software for businesses has actually been around since 2003? (Hint: One of the founders, Mike McDermont, said he came up with the concept after he actually saved over an invoice he was filling out)
     
     Answer: Freshbooks
     
     
164. A demo of a game is an example of which type of software that lets users "try before they buy" (though only to a limited extent)?
     
     Answer: Trialware
     
     
165. SQS is an AWS that makes it easy to keep messages between software and apps organized without having to worry about losing them. SQS stands for Simple ______ Service.
     
     Answer: Queue
     
     
166. Led by President Alexander Lukashenko, what Eastern European nation passed a January 2023 law allowing piracy of software whose copyright holders are from "unfriendly nations?"
     
     Answer: Belarus
     
     
167. Before becoming CEO of AWS, which data visualization software company did Adam Selipsky help navigate its acquisition by Salesforce in 2019?
     
     Answer: Tableau
     
     
168. Which “edutainment” software publisher produced suites of games for PC and Mac in the ‘90s like “Thinkin’ Things,” “Millie’s Math House,” and “Imagination Express?”
     
     Answer: Edmark
     
     
169. Which children’s artsy software program was a fixture on computer lab PCs and your home desktop in the ‘90s, with several iterations like “Deluxe,” and “Studio” released by “edutainment” publishers like Broderbund and The Learning Company?
     
     Answer: KidPix
     
     
170. Tor is free and open-source software designed to enable users to communicate on the Internet anonymously. What do the letters Tor stand for?
     
     Answer: The Onion Router
     
     
171. Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry also starred in a hour-long video guide to use which Windows operating system?
     
     Answer: Windows 95
     
     
172. In February 2023, Nintendo reported nearly 1 billion total software sales for what gaming console, meaning that surpassed the Nintendo DS in number of software sales?
     
     Answer: Switch
     
     
173. The Android 4.4 operating system software for mobile devices was known by what sweet nickname, which is a chocolate-covered wafer bar known for its breakability?
     
     Answer: KitKat
     
     
174. With the first name Peter, which programmer released a series of computer utilities in 1982, which included Unerase, a utility to find deleted files? His name is well known in anti-virus software.
     
     Answer: Norton
     
     
175. MYOB is a business software company that was by Brad shower in 1991 in which English-speaking country?
     
     Answer: Australia
     
     
176. Scott Farquhar is a CEO of which tech startup founded in 2002 in Australia that manufactures software to assist with project management and other collaborative projects?
     
     Answer: Atlassian
     
     
177. Amazon EKS—or elastic ______ service—lets you run which open-source container system for automating software management that was originally released by Google in 2014? (Hint: Its name means “pilot” in Greek)
     
     Answer: Kubernetes
     
     
178. Which software startup founded in 2013 works with companies like Amazon, Stripe, eBay, and Mercari to let customers compare the costs of getting the stuff they buy online delivered, access return labels, and track orders?
     
     Answer: Shippo
     
     
179. Attracting much news coverage in 2023, the machine learning model ChatGPT stands for "Chat Generative Pre-trained" WHAT?
     
     Answer: Transformer
     
     
180. What popular mathematics software program is named after the type of tree whose leaf appears on the flag of Canada?
     
     Answer: Maple
     
     
181. Also known as a virtual machine monitor or VMM, what ten-letter term describes software that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs)?
     
     Answer: Hypervisor
     
     
182. What is a type of malicious software that reports every key stroke back to a hacker, thus giving away passwords?
     
     Answer: Keylogger
     
     
183. What bitmap and vector graphics was acquired by Adobe in 2005 and was discontinued in 2013 as it overlapped too much with Illustrator and Photoshop?
     
     Answer: Fireworks
     
     
184. Dylan Field and Evan Wallace got the idea for their software startup while they were still computer science students at Brown. When they launched their collaborative, cloud-based web app for applying your imagination to user interface design in 2016, what did they call it? (Hint: Fans were miffed when Adobe acquired it in 2022)
     
     Answer: Figma
     
     
185. For making changes like "food" to "good" and "barely" to "Barry," what iPhone feature was called out in a March 2023 New York Post article as something that "ruins lives?"
     
     Answer: Autocorrect
     
     
186. Which AWS uses a combo of devices and software enabled with machine learning to help you build and train a neural network for projects like replicating an artwork’s style in a video?
     
     Answer: DeepLens
     
     
187. Which web software for graphic design developed by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in 2013 gives you the tools to make anything your artistic little heart desires, from marketing materials to social media posts?
     
     Answer: Canva
     
     
188. Sort of like a guard keeping watch and alerting you to a threat, an ______ detection system (IDS) is a device or software that monitors for any suspicious activity.
     
     Answer: Intrusion
     
     
189. What is the four-letter abbreviation statistical software suite owned by IBM was first launched in 1968 and is commonly used by researchers all over the world?
     
     Answer: SPSS
     
     
190. Available for macOS since 2004 and for iOS since 2011, what Apple-developed application is represented by an orange guitar icon?
     
     Answer: GarageBand
     
     
191. In 1982, Thomas Throop created the first ‘Baron’ software to play which well-known card game?
     
     Answer: Bridge
     
     
192. Also used to describe the effects of some psychoactive drugs on humans, when applied to software, what term means that an AI model has produced an answer that is plausible, but factually incorrect and/or unrelated to the question asked?
     
     Answer: Hallucination
     
     
193. "Work more easily with everyone" and "One platform for your team and your work" are slogans used by what instant-messaging platform, which is popular with workplaces and owned by Salesforce?
     
     Answer: Slack
     
     
194. Complete the name of this popular food-slicing mobile game released in 2010 by Halfbrick whose Kinect version won the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards’ "Casual Game of the Year:” ______ Ninja.
     
     Answer: Fruit
     
     
195. At an estimated cost of $3 million, what Rolling Stones song was used as the ‘anthem’ for the advertising of the Windows 95 operating system?
     
     Answer: Start Me Up
     
     
196. If you’re an ‘80s kid who grew up playing computer learning games on your Apple II like “The Prisoner,” “Empire,” and “Windfall,” you have Sherwin Steffin and Steven Pederson to thank, as they funded which software company that made the games in 1979?
     
     Answer: Edu-Ware
     
     
197. Kotlin is now the official Android programming language, but most Android applications are still developed using which other programming language, which was the official language until 2019?
     
     Answer: Java
     
     
198. What is the name of the mixed-reality headset that Apple announced in June 2023, which the company advertised with the slogan: "You’ve never seen everything like this before"?
     
     Answer: Vision Pro
     
     
199. Headquartered in California with Elon Musk as CEO, what company that manufactures the Starship launch vehicle made headlines in June 2023 by hiring 14-year-old Kairan Quazi as a software engineer?
     
     Answer: SpaceX
     
     
200. Which healthcare software company well-known to providers for its electronic medical records system is based in Madison, Wisconsin?
     
     Answer: EPIC
     
     
201. Formerly known as ZenPayroll, what payroll software company is headquartered in San Francisco, and was founded in 2012 by Joshua Reeves, Tomer London and Edward Kim?
     
     Answer: Gusto
     
     
202. What colorful term is given to a security mechanism prohibiting the execution of any program that is not on a pre-approved list of software?
     
     Answer: Whitelist
     
     
203. What popular payroll software company has a name that directly translates from Italian as "taste?"
     
     Answer: Gusto
     
     
204. What programming language got its one-letter name because it came after a language that was named either “Byte” or “Bell” but was just called “B”?
     
     Answer: C
     
     
205. MacOS X 10.4.11 is better known to the average user by what animalistic operating system nickname that shares its name with an apex predator that’s scientifically known as “panthera tigris?”
     
     Answer: Tiger
     
     
206. What homophone of a famous painter, and getting inspiration for its name from a Pixar character is given to an AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language?
     
     Answer: DALL-E
     
     
207. What cybersecurity term meshes the words “software” and “malicious” together to describe bad programs that are used to infect a system?
     
     Answer: Malware
     
     
208. First published in 1989 by Maxis, name the video game series designed by Will Wright that lets users construct and manage simulated versions of their own urban communities.
     
     Answer: SimCity
     
     
209. The Find My app can be used to find non-electronic devices and people—as long as they're equipped with what small, portable tracking device made by Apple?
     
     Answer: AirTag
     
     
210. Found before the word “particle” when describing radioactive emissions, before the word “blocker” when describing drugs that treat abnormal heart rhythms, and before the word “testing” when describing software that isn’t ready for a broad release, what is the second letter of the Greek alphabet?
     
     Answer: Beta
     
     
211. Which programming language that’s been around since the early ‘90s has seen a surge in popularity thanks to Roblox, since it’s the basis for developing games?
     
     Answer: Lua
     
     
212. What term beginning with G describes a software project developed from scratch rather than built from an existing program?
     
     Answer: Greenfield
     
     
213. Said to have been the brainchild of Odysseus, what construction from ancient Greek mythology gives its name to software that misleads users of its true intent by disguising itself as a standard program?
     
     Answer: Trojan Horse
     
     
214. Which free, open-source software was founded by Linus Torvalds in 2006 for Linux kernel, but has since been maintained by Junio Hamano and also runs on other OS’s, like Mac and Windows? (Hint: You might have a better chance at getting the name if you know some British slang)
     
     Answer: Git
     
     
215. What Cary-based software analytics company, whose namesake software is used by most Fortune 500 companies, is the world's largest privately held software business?
     
     Answer: SAS Institute
     
     
216. Hubspot's website declares that the company offers software that is "powerful, not ___." What -ing word that can mean "intense" or "too much" goes in the blank?
     
     Answer: Overpowering
     
     
217. In August 2023, hackers from Berlin's Technische Universitat announced that they had cracked the software of what electric car manufacturer to unlock paid-only features like self-driving and heated seats?
     
     Answer: Tesla
     
     
218. Which payroll software company CEO’d by Parker Conrad makes processing payments and tasks in the sea of HR smooth sailing?
     
     Answer: Rippling
     
     
219. The LystLoc homepage boasts the company’s 2011 awards from SoftwareSuggest: Experts’ Choice and Best ______?
     
     Answer: Support
     
     
220. Bladabindi and Lime-Worm are alternate names for what Trojan malware program, which, despite its name, appears to have no specific connections to the Garden State?
     
     Answer: NJRAT
     
     
221. Providing its name and image for the logo for amodern piece of modern language learning software, what ancient stone slab discovered in Egypt in 1799 provided the key to deciphering hieroglyphics, and is now the most visited item on display in the British Museum?
     
     Answer: The Rosetta Stone
     
     
222. What term, beginning with H, is software that enables distributed processing for big data by using clusters and simple programming models?
     
     Answer: Hadoop
     
     
223. BIOS is the first software that runs when a computing system is powered on. What do the “I” and the “O” in the acronym BIOS?
     
     Answer: Input/Output
     
     
224. Snowie and Jellyfish are both bots and software packages that play which common board game?
     
     Answer: Backgammon
     
     
225. In contrast to "agile" software development, which emphasizes iterative changes, what is the wet-sounding term for software development in which each project phase must be completed in linear fashion before moving on to the next phase?
     
     Answer: Waterfall
     
     
226. Similar to SaaS (software as a service), _____ as a service (IaaS) is a cloud computing service that delivers services like virtual service space and bandwidth to companies so they, in turn, can ensure smooth operating for their customers?
     
     Answer: Infrastructure
     
     
227. In 2008, Marcin Kleczynski and Bruce Harrison launched what antivirus software that chomps trojans and worms?
     
     Answer: Malwarebytes
     
     
228. Being named after a well-known item in its profession’s history, Smokeball is a software brand to assist firms in which profession?
     
     Answer: Law
     
     
229. Before it was renamed ServiceNow in 2006, the American software company was known by what “G” name? (Hint: It could be synonymous with this fused word: “SlideCottony.”)
     
     Answer: Glidesoft
     
     
230. Based in Australia and New Zealand, name the cloud-based HR and payroll software company that shares its name with a furry red character on “Sesame Street.”
     
     Answer: ELMO Software
     
     
231. What term beginning with F is a method used to discover errors or potential vulnerabilities in software?
     
     Answer: Fuzzing
     
     
232. Microsoft reportedly included what one-person card game on its earliest machines because they wanted to calm down users who were intimidated by computers?
     
     Answer: Solitaire
     
     
233. Described by PC magazine as the “workhorse of kitchen apps”, which app named after a red spice was first released in December 2010?
     
     Answer: Paprika
     
     
234. What is the name of the fitness app started up by Hollywood megastar Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky?
     
     Answer: Centr
     
     
235. What is the aviation-related name of Microsoft's software that uses large language models to analyze organizational data?
     
     Answer: Copilot
     
     
236. What term is given to a device that runs the protocol software of a decentralized blockchain network?
     
     Answer: Node
     
     
237. Which Indian tech company used to be known as AdventNet has offered a business suite and CRM since 2005, which includes it’s popular payroll software? (Hint: With its current name, you’ll find it in the latter half of the alphabet)
     
     Answer: Zoho
     
     
238. Not to be confused with rubber gloves, what document preparation software system that uses plain text is pronounced “lay tech?”
     
     Answer: LaTex
     
     
239. Considering it’s one of the longest-running PC games of all time, if you grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s, you almost definitely piloted a plane using what Microsoft program?
     
     Answer: Flight Simulator
     
     
240. What two-word term is given to a software developer that can work on the frontend and backend?
     
     Answer: Full Stack
     
     
241. What term is given to a malicious software or code that is considered to fall in the category between normal software and a virus?
     
     Answer: Grayware
     
     
242. Used as the primary operating system for IBM PCs during the ‘80s, the “DOS” in Microsoft DOS stands for ______ Operating System.
     
     Answer: Disk
     
     
243. Before his death in 2023, which American hacker-turned-security consultant was known for getting arrested by FBI in 1995 after breaking into the DEC’s computer system and copying software?
     
     Answer: Kevin Mitnick
     
     
244. Since CAPTCHAs are actually technically computers checking that a human is really human, they’re sometimes called a reverse ____ test (as opposed to the classic version “imitation game,” in which humans judge computers).
     
     Answer: Turing
     
     
245. Which Irvine, California based software startup founded by Adam Iyermenko in 2011 uses a freemium model to let securely connect PCs, phones, serves, and other devices to peer-to-peer virtual networks? (Hint: If you heard the name without seeing how it’s written, you might think the company is promising “no tears” if you use their products)
     
     Answer: ZeroTier
     
     
246. Which goal of W3C states that the languages and protocols used on the web have to be compatible, so the software and hardware involved all work together?
     
     Answer: Interoperability
     
     
247. What AWS service is a machine learning (ML) Appliance and Software Development Kit (SDK) that organizations can use to bring computer vision (CV) to on-premises cameras to make predictions locally?
     
     Answer: Panorama
     
     
248. What two-word term is given to when multiple software systems can share identity data from a larger centralized system?
     
     Answer: Federated Identity
     
     
249. Although the spelling is different, what Berlin-based language-learning software company co-founded by Thomas Holl and Markus Witte in August 2007 shares its name with a famous Biblical tower?
     
     Answer: Babbel
     
     
250. What term beginning with E is for software designed to make it look like you’re using a different device, fully mimicking its hardware, software, and even its bugs?
     
     Answer: Emulator
     
     
251. What word that might evoke imagery of waterfalls does the "C" in the style sheet language CSS stand for?
     
     Answer: Cascading
     
     
252. What provider of AI-driven BPM software was acquired by Celonis as announced on November 13 2023, to boost their AI portfolio?
     
     Answer: Symbio
     
     
253. What two-word term is for the processes, authorities for, and procedures to be used for all changes that are made to the computerized system and/or the system's data?
     
     Answer: Change control
     
     
254. What was the name of the default "Office Assistant" that appeared in Microsoft's Office suite of software, beginning with Windows 97?
     
     Answer: Clippit (Clippy)
     
     
255. Known as Presenter when it was initially put out, Microsoft PowerPoint was released in what year of the 1980s? One year either way accepted.
     
     Answer: 1987
     
     
256. What programming language started out as a personal project of Gradyon Hoare when he was working at Mozilla Research in 2006 and was apparently named after fungus and not corroded metal?
     
     Answer: Rust
     
     
257. What two-word term is business intelligence software from SAP that is designed to enable organizations to analyze large data sets and predict future outcomes and behaviors?
     
     Answer: Predictive analytics
     
     
258. What free, open-source, cross-platform web server software either took inspiration from Native American culture for its name, or made a patchwork pun?
     
     Answer: Apache
     
     
259. What term beginning with C is a software-development tool that translates high-level language programs into the machine-language instructions that a particular processor can understand and execute?
     
     Answer: Compiler
     
     
260. Forbes has predicted what sort of bots beginning with T will improve software development lifecycle productivity by 15% to 20%?
     
     Answer: TuringBots
     
     
261. What term beginning with F is an automated software testing method that injects invalid, malformed, or unexpected inputs into a system to reveal software defects and vulnerabilities?
     
     Answer: Fuzzer
     
     
262. In January 2024, the AI startup ElevenLabs achieved unicorn status as people are getting stoked about its tech that clones what human feature?
     
     Answer: Voice
     
     
263. Sonic Pi is a live coding environment that’s designed for musicians. What programming language is it based on?
     
     Answer: Ruby
     

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