New Products
Ruby developers of the world, rejoice! ActiveState's latest release (3.5) of its Komodo integrated development environment has added support for the up-and-coming language. With the addition of Ruby, Komodo now supports five different languages, including Python, Perl, Tcl and PHP. Release 3.5 also includes support for Mac OS X and Ruby on Rails. Personal licenses are only $29.95 US, and the professional version (which adds features such as CVS and Subversion integration) is $295 US.
Centeris is releasing an open-source technology that will allow Linux servers to be administered via the Microsoft Management Console. Likewise, Open Agent allows administrators who are more comfortable looking at system administration tasks through Microsoft-colored glasses to perform such tasks as setting up Samba shares and configuring Apache through the MMC. Centeris expects that as time progresses, more modules will be added by the community, allowing for more specialized Linux tasks to be performed.
If you're still unable to cut the umbilical cord to some of your Windows applications, you may be in luck. CrossOver Office 5.0 is out, and it has added support for Office 2003. A personal version is available for $39.95 US, and a professional edition is only $30 more, with a free-trial option for the undecided.
Or, possibly you're looking for a more virtualized solution. In that case, VMware has just released the beta of a free VMware player, which will allow anyone to run a VMware virtual machine built using its products. Available for Linux and Windows, the player allows anyone to run a previously saved VMware environment without having to purchase a full VMware license.
www.vmware.com/download/player
Of course, you could just do without those pesky Microsoft products altogether. OpenOffice.org 2.0 has finally hit the streets, with a new database module called Base (think Access). Version 2.0 also includes support for the OpenDocument format, improved PDF export support and better compatibility with proprietary formats. And, as always, it's free—something you definitely can't say about Microsoft Office.
It just wouldn't be New Products without something for the hardware geeks. VIA has released a reference design for 1U server clusters based on its VT310-DP Mini-ITX mainboard using dual Eden-N processors. Running at 1GHz and requiring no fan, you can pack 64 processors into a 16U chassis. With room for two 3.5 SATA drives on each board, you'll still be able to run the whole thing on less than a kilowatt. The intent is to move high-density server clusters out of the server farm and into the workplace and classroom.
