Enlightenment

Enlightenment, also called E, is a popular free and open source (FOSS) windows manager that can serve as a standalone desktop environment. E can also be used along with other desktop environments like KDE and GNOME.

Enlightenment is highly customizable and includes the types of themes and high-end graphics familiar to users of Windows and the Mac OS. Many functions can be performed from the keyboard, without the need for mouse manipulation. The command line-driven mode is said to streamline operation. The portable, user-friendly interface is favored by graphics professionals and sophisticated hobbyists.
The three components of the Enlightenment project are Enlightenment DR16, Englightenment DR17 and the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries.

Carsten 'Rasterman' Haitzler released the first Enlightenment Windows Manager in 1997. Enlightenment DR16 (V.0.16), released in 2000, is still used today. V.16.8.13 was released in May 2008. Enlightenment DR17 (V.0.17), in development, is a complete rewriting of DR16, including a desktop shell. DR17 is expected to enhance graphics quality, improve performance and support new and emerging applications

Source: http://whatis.techtarget.com

NetBeans 6.5 now in beta release

Good news to all Java guys! NetBeans 6.5 is already available on beta release. The NetBeans IDE is an award-winning Integrated Development Environment available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. The NetBeans project consists of an open-source IDE and an application platform which enable developers to rapidly create web, enterprise, desktop, and mobile applications using the Java platform, C/C++, JavaScript, Ruby, Groovy, and PHP. It is supported by a vibrant developer community and offers a diverse selection of third-party plugins. The NetBeans IDE is a must-download for software developers.

Release Overview

The NetBeans IDE 6.5 Beta release provides several new features and enhancements, such as a new IDE-wide QuickSearch shortcut, more user-friendly interface, and automatic Compile on Save. In addition to full support of all Java editions (Java SE, Java EE, Java ME), the NetBeans IDE is the ideal tool for software development with PHP, C/C++, Groovy and Grails, Ruby and Rails, Ajax and JavaScript. The 6.5 release also includes enhanced support for web frameworks (Hibernate, Spring, JSF, JPA), the GlassFish application server, and databases.

Feature Highlights

PHP PHP Editor (Code completion, syntactic and semantic code highlighting) Support for heredoc notation and PHTML Xdebug Generators for MySQL database code snippets

JavaScript and Ajax JavaScript Editor and Debugger JavaScript Library Manager Yahoo UI, Woodstock, jQuery, Dojo, Scriptaculous, Prototype libraries CSS Editor

Java EE & Web Development Enhanced support for Spring, Hibernate, JSF, JSF CRUD generator, JPA (Java Persistence API) Create RESTful web services from database tables or from JPA entities Drag and drop SaaS services into PHP files SQL Editor Improvements (code completion, save/recall queries, and more)

Groovy and Grails Develop pure Groovy apps or use Groovy in Java SE projects Groovy editor (code completion, highlighting, and more) Grails web application framework Open existing Grails applications without adding metadata

Ruby and Rails Rake improvements: Rake Runner and a pre-generated Rake file Debugger: Conditional breakpoints and catchpoints Ruby projects accept JVM options from command line New Test Runner interface for displaying test results

GlassFish v3 Prelude for Web Development Modular, OSGi based architecture Small footprint, fast startup and deployment Support for scripting, including JRuby

C/C++ Improved code completion, error highlighting, and semantic highlighting Call graph, Memory window Remote development Packaging of application as tar files, zip files, or SVR4 packages

Java ME New project wizard for adding custom components to the Visual Designer Palette New SVG UI components in the enhanced SVG Composer enable rich UI design New Data Binding Custom Components in the Visual Designer Palette Upgraded obfuscation tool to ProGuard 4.2 and test framework to JMUnit 1.1.0

Java SE Multi-threaded Java debugging Java Swing GUI Builder: TreeModel Editor for JTrees Improved Eclipse project import and synchronization

IDE Tools and Usability One QuickSearch shortcut for IDE actions, files, options, and docs Support for Windows UNC paths (shared network folders) Automatic Compile on Save / Deploy on Save

For more information visit http://www.netbeans.org/community/releases/65/

Squid Proxy Server

Squid is a Unix-based proxy server that caches Internet content closer to a requestor than its original point of origin. Squid supports caching of many different kinds of Web objects, including those accessed through HTTP and FTP. Caching frequently requested Web pages, media files and other content accelerates response time and reduces bandwidth congestion.

A Squid proxy server is generally installed on a separate server than the Web server with the original files. Squid works by tracking object use over the network. Squid will initially act as an intermediary, simply passing the client's request on to the server and saving a copy of the requested object. If the same client or multiple clients request the same object before it expires from Squid's cache, Squid can then immediately serve it, accelerating the download and saving bandwidth.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have used Squid proxy servers since the early 1990s to provide faster download speeds and reduce latency, especially for delivering rich media and streaming video. Website operators frequently will use a Squid proxy server as a content accelerator, caching frequently viewed content and easing loads on Web servers. Content delivery networks and media companies employ Squid proxy servers and deploy them throughout their networks to improve the experience of viewers requesting programming, particularly for load balancing and handling traffic spikes for popular content.

Squid is provided as free, open source software and can be used under the GNU General Public License (GPL) of the Free Software Foundation. Squid was originally designed to run on Unix-based systems but can also be run on Windows machines.

Squid was originally an outgrowth from the Harvest Project, an ARPA-funded open source information gathering and storage tool. "Squid" was the code name used to differentiate the project when development in the new direction was initially begun.

For more information on Squid proxy servers visit: http://www.squid-cache.org/

Source: http://whatis.techtarget.com