| Sumario: | The writers review the types of software packages that have been adopted within the field of qualitative geography and outline some of their distinctive features. They consider the intellectual and institutional reasons for the interest in the software and describe the ways in which such reasons have shaped the use made of these packages. They suggest that only a contextual account of how packages are adopted, adapted, and utilized can explain the situation in geography, and they maintain that the underlying archaeologies, or theoretical presuppositions, of the packages are extremely homogeneous and need to be clearly understood before determining how the packages might be used. They demonstrate how some of these presuppositions have influenced the ways in which the packages have been used, and they develop points about informal networks of adoption and institutional contexts in order to indicate the minimal role played by formal software guides and manuals in determining whether and how to use a package.
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