It was just a matter of time before someone built a more effective scaffolding system for Ruby on Rails. Streamlined is a framework with a rich metamodel that enables application generation that improves scaffolding productivity. Part 1 of this two-part series, demonstrates Ruby on Rails scaffolding, illustrating its limitations, and how Streamlined can improve it. Part 2 explores how the impressive metamodel behind Streamlined enables customizations.

There's an interesting challenge in writing a good book about programming. At a certain point, you'll lose the newbies and alienate the technical. Below the line is a safe introductory book, above it is aimed at a smaller crowd. We had an opportunity review No Starch Press' Object-Oriented PHP, and found it fits nicely into the gap.

Canonical is the 65-employee start-up behind a popular version of Linux called Ubuntu. The company is betting that it can win a place in the market using a strategy that dominant Linux seller Red Hat has dropped. Red Hat offers two versions of Linux: Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Fedora Core is free, but relatively untested and unsupported by Red Hat, while RHEL is supported and certified, but must be purchased. With Canonical's Ubuntu, however, the free and supported versions are identical - the approach Red Hat abandoned in 2003.

"Open-source support has appeared by default in X.Org 7.1 for R300 generation GPUs. While ATI does not officially support these R300 open-source drivers, this alternative have been gaining momentum with users largely due to the lack of GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap support in fglrx. This extension is needed for the AIGLX desktop eye-candy. These drivers do lack TV-out support and many other features found within ATI's fglrx drivers, but how does its performance compare?"

Microsoft, of all companies, continues to lead the way with free and loose licensing terms around server virtualization software and multi-core processors. As of Oct 1, Windows Server Datacenter Edition operating system customers will have the right to run "an unlimted number of virtualized Windows Server instances". This policy applies to licenses covering new servers and previous licenses upgraded with new version rights. All told, it means that you pay to run Windows Server Datacenter Edition on a server with a set number of processors and can then divvy that box up with any combination of Windows Server Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition and/or Datacenter Edition without needing to count the number of virtual machines being created or pay for extra Windows Server licenses.

Former Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson resigned Oct. 4 from the company's board of directors following a three-month investigation into alleged irregularities in the way the company distributes stock options to executives. Mr. Anderson, who served as CFO from 1996 until 2004, informed the company that he believes it is "in Apple's best interests that I resign from the board at this time". Apple Computer also announced that the special committee of its board has reported its findings from the investigation into Apple's stock-option practices.

Red Hat has an NDA cooperation with Marvell for the wireless chips that they want to use for the One Laptop per Child-project. The idea of this is that both parties think Marvell will be more open in the future, but this is absolutely not the path they should walk, according to OpenBSD's Theo de Raadt. "I am getting really tired of 'open source' people who work against the open source community. Our little group can probably take credit for having 'opened up' more wireless devices than the rest of the community, and therefore we feel we have a better grasp of the damage OLPC has done here."

"Like it or not, buyers of x86 servers, clients, and workstations face a major platform shift as the 32-bit CPUs, operating systems, and applications slowly fade into history. That historic migration will have dramatic impact. Yet one factor keeps getting pushed aside as we obsess over hardware progress: humans. Among the demands we make of new technology, raising human productivity should top the list. And although 128-bit registers have productive effect, usability has a magnitude more impact. That's why Apple's latest Macs and OS deserve a good, hard look as mainstream enterprise fare."

Here is an article which reviews Mandriva 2007 and provides tips as well as plenty of screenshots. Everything worked from the start and the Live CD is quite impressive, says the author - comes with XGL enabled on the disc too. Another Mandriva-related review is the 'Mandriva Corporate Server 4.0' article at SoftwareInReview.com.

Reuters reports that Nvidia shares climbed more than 8 percent on Wednesday amid speculation the graphics chipmaker could be acquired by Intel. "Investors have been speculating that Nvidia might be acquired since July, when AMD agreed to buy Nvidia rival ATI Technologies Inc. for USD 5.4 billion. Rumors of such a transaction resurfaced on Wednesday, spreading quickly across Wall Street trading desks, according to three options market participants."

Google is introducing a new search service - strictly for computer programmers only. The Web search leader said late on Wednesday it is introducing Google Code Search, a site that simplifies how software developers search for programming code to improve existing software or create new programs. Google product manager Tom Stocky said the company is set to help programmers sift through billions of lines of computer source code using its familiar search box to uncover snippets of reusable software.

This page provides an overview for readers who would like to learn about IBM Systems, but don't know where to start. Get a brief introduction to and history of IBM servers and storage devices, and find out what skills you need to undertake systems development with the wide range of IBM hardware products and related technologies.

The POWER5 processor is a 64-bit workhorse used in a variety of settings. Part 1 of this Assembly language for Power Architecture series is an introduction to assembly language concepts and the PowerPC instruction set. The series as a whole will introduce assembly language in general, specifically language programming for the POWER5.

Nick McGrath, Microsoft's head of platform strategy, is at the spearhead of the software giant's attempts to head off the open source danger. Having helped launched both NT4 and XP into the UK, the 15-year Microsoft veteran now concentrates on combating the threat posed by organisations migrating to Linux. But, with an almost mockingly dismissive opinion of the opportunities brought about by Linux, McGrath is insistent that Microsoft is not losing ground. Instead he claims that Microsoft is winning key corporate and public sector deals on the critical battlegrounds of cost and security.