This text is a pretty substantial update of the part of the introduction for Software Takes Command manuscript (2008).
Many things happen in software culture between 2008-2011 - for instance, the rize of mobile platform and the "long tail" of apps for these platforms. Dozens of books have been written about Google and other web giants.
The MIT Press published a few titles in our Software Studies series established in 2008.
New software studies journal prepares its first issuie.
I have updated the article to include these developments, and also reworked a number of theoretical points and terms to reflect the state of software culture today. The article also offers a possible taxonomy of types of "cultural software" - open for discussion, of course.
Here is scan of 1993 article about first version of the application later renamed After Effects (InfoWorld magazine) - an example of cultural software discussed in Software Takes Command:
