MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 2 of 100

Accepted — A (Graphics Software) or B (Multimedia software); MPPSC's final key marks both, so a student who shaded either option scored the mark. A is the primary answer: Adobe Photoshop is a raster (bitmap) image editor, and its whole job is creating and editing pictures — layers, selections, masks, retouching, colour correction — which is the textbook definition of graphics software. B was allowed because the standard Indian computer-studies syllabus also runs a wider 'multimedia software' category covering packages that create or edit media content — images, audio, video, animation — and an image editor sits inside that family; Photoshop itself handles frame animation and video layers besides still images. Since graphics software is a subset of multimedia software rather than a rival to it, the two labels are not mutually exclusive, and the commission granted grace instead of forcing one.

• (c)Web Series software — There is no such category of application software. A web series is a form of video content distributed online, not a class of program.
• (d)Database software — Database software stores, queries and manages structured records — MS Access, Oracle, MySQL. Photoshop keeps no tables and answers no queries; it edits image files.

Software divides first into system software (the operating system, utilities, language translators) and application software (programs that do a user's actual work). Application software then divides into general purpose packages, sold off the shelf for anyone — word processors, spreadsheets, presentation tools, DBMS, graphics and multimedia editors, browsers — and specific purpose software written for one organisation, such as a bank's core banking system. Photoshop is a general purpose package in the graphics/multimedia family.

MPPSC's computer section is built on one-line 'product to category' recall, so the reliable prep move is to memorise one flagship product per category. The wrinkle here is that graphics and multimedia are nested categories, not competing ones — which is precisely why this question ended up with two accepted answers.

• System software runs the machine (Windows, Linux, UNIX); application software does the user's work (Word, Excel, Photoshop).
• General purpose application software is packaged for any buyer; specific purpose software is custom-built for one organisation.
• Standard category anchors: word processing — MS Word; spreadsheet — MS Excel; database — MS Access; presentation — PowerPoint; graphics — Adobe Photoshop, CorelDRAW.
• Photoshop edits raster (pixel-based) images; Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW are vector editors, which store shapes as mathematical paths.

• Treating graphics and multimedia as mutually exclusive — graphics sits inside the multimedia family, which is why both were accepted.
• Assuming every Adobe product belongs to one category; Premiere is video editing, Acrobat is document handling, Photoshop is image editing.
• Calling Photoshop a vector editor — it is raster; Illustrator and CorelDRAW are the vector tools.

MPPSC repeats one-line product-to-category and 'which of the following is NOT a ...' items in its computer block. UPSC rarely asks category labels and instead probes concepts such as SaaS or cloud computing.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is an example of database management software?

  • (a)MS Excel
  • (b)MS Access
  • (c)Adobe Illustrator
  • (d)Windows Media Player

  Answer(b) MS Access — a desktop DBMS. Excel is a spreadsheet, Illustrator a vector graphics editor, Media Player a multimedia player.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  System software differs from application software because system software:

  • (a)is always distributed free of cost
  • (b)controls the hardware and provides the platform on which other programs run
  • (c)can be used only when the computer is offline
  • (d)is written only in machine language

  Answer(b) it controls the hardware and provides the platform on which other programs run — operating systems and utilities are the standard examples.