Software Reviews

Photos: Windows 7 Build 7048

Photos The recently leaked Build 7048 of Windows 7 isn't (quite) the Release Candidate. Here's a gallery of changes from the official Beta (Build 7000).

Ipswitch IMail Server Premium 10.02 review

Review If your company wants to run its email in-house and finds Microsoft's Exchange too unwieldy and too expensive, Ipswitch's IMail Server Premium is a bargain.

Microsoft 2.0 review

Review In this solidly researched and footnoted book, ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reviews the key people, products and principles that will drive Microsoft's future.

Windows Mobile 6.5: a first look

Preview Microsoft's updated mobile OS brings a handful of enhancements, including an application store, a backup and restore service, and an improved mobile web browser

Photos: Windows Mobile 6.5

Photos Microsoft has shown off Windows Mobile 6.5 at Mobile World Congress, although new devices will not appear until the second half of 2009. Check out its look and feel here.

Lotus Symphony 1.2 review

Review Although the interface of IBM's free office suite is attractive, its hunger for system resources and lack of features and OOXML support mean that OpenOffice.org 3 is a better free alternative.

Camtasia Studio 6 review

Review TechSmith's Camtasia Studio is an outstandingly easy-to-use program for creating HD-quality training, teaching and marketing videos for the web and mobile devices.

iWork '09 review

Review Intuitive interface design and easy access to useful features make iWork the best office suite choice on the Mac. Although it lacks some of Microsoft Office's advanced options, iWork '09 is an emerging powerhouse in its own right.

Google Chrome 2.0 pre-beta: a first look

Preview Version 2.0 of Google's Chrome browser is now available in pre-beta form. Check out some of the key new features.

Windows 7 Beta: screenshot gallery

Photos The first public beta of Windows 7 (Build 7000) is now available for download. Here's a tour of the upcoming successor to Vista.

Googling Security review

Review This book examines how Google can (wittingly or unwittingly, directly or indirectly) breach our privacy.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 review

Review Despite taking a completely different approach to virtualisation, Virtuozzo Containers can match the best hypervisors on performance while at the same time making virtual workloads quick and easy to deploy and manage.

XenServer 5 review

Review Early releases of the Xen hypervisor showed promise but had lots of rough edges. Citrix's XenServer 5, however, is very much a production-class virtualisation solution with features that match, and in some cases exceed, what's available on rival platforms.

Windows Small Business Server 2008 review

Review This is an impressive update to Microsoft's Small Business Server that packs a big punch. However, it may be overkill for a lot of companies and isn't quite as easy to manage as it first appears.

Photos: Microsoft's new parallel programming toolkit

Photos Microsoft Concurrency and Coordination Runtime and Decentralized Software Services Toolkit 2008 is a spin-off from its work on robotics. We got a first look at PDC 2008.