Difference Between application and service?

Question

Hi there, can someone explain to me, in plain english what the difference is between a normal application and a service in regards to servers (i.e. Server 2003)? Thanks.

Answer 1

Simple  an application is a software program. there can only be one for the entire server. example MsWorks....

a process or service, is a specific instance or the software running..... Each is separate from each other. We can have many different processes of MsWorks running. A good example of this would be to open up 30 different word documents...

Each will load in a seperate process...!

Answer 2

In terms of your question, a service on a server is normally a program that runs without user interaction, and can run without  access to the user interface.  An application usually requires user interaction, and the server must be 'logged on' in order to run.

Answer 3

Services are little programs that carry out many of the operating system management tasks. Windows has dozens of them that control things like wireless access, disk management and many more (if you want to see what services are running type msconfig in the run window (start menu). Some software installs services that run at system startup, itunes is a good example.

An application is a program tat you install to do a particular task, e.g., MS Office, Photoshop, games etc