Is Ruby on Rails a Crown Jewel?

Ruby on Rails is a favorite Web-development environment. As it expands to support other platforms, can Ruby become the cross-platform Crown Jewel?

Nice Gesture, But What Does It Mean?

As the installed base of smartphones, tablets and digital kiosks grows, so does the need for gesture-based user interfaces. Design expert Don Norman explains why the current paradigm is frustrating for users and developers alike.

Open Source Meets Systems Management

Open-source systems management products are augmenting — and even replacing — legacy enterprise-class offerings from traditional old-school vendors.
Analyst Bernd Harzog explains why.

Steve Lionel on Why Fortran Still Matters

Most Web-era programmers work with PERL, Python and Java languages, but Intel’s Steve Lionel says Fortran’s pure number-crunching strength keeps it front-and-center for some apps.