File extension Details of MXF, NTF, OFM, PCF, PFB, PFM, PFM, PSF, FOT

SimCity 3000

Company / developer:
  Electronic Arts Inc.

SimCity 3000

Don't cry for me, SimCity. As the mayor--potentate, really--the entire future and design of the city is within your hands. A classic city-simulation game, the new version boasts scores of cool improvements, including more refined graphics.

The infrastructure of your new home is intense, and so are the tasks at hand: building roads, establishing water and power lines, providing civil protection through fire and police stations--and reviewing city finances to make sure all these things can happen. The realistic details in SimCity 3000 are what make it brilliant: an icon for "subway to rail connection" allows you to create a spot for your city residents to change trains on their daily commute.

The pleasing graphics offer color palates similar to a Diego Rivera painting or a Rockefeller Center mural. With an endless array of satisfying options and fascinating possibilities, a review of this edition requires almost ridiculous hyperbole and praise. A great way to get lost in careful consideration for days on end, SimCity 3000 is simply the best game of its type.

Microsoft Windows

Company / developer:
  Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a family of operating systems by Microsoft. They can run on several types of platforms such as servers, embedded devices and, most typically, on personal computers. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing trend of graphical user interfaces (GUI) popularized by the Macintosh. Microsoft Windows eventually came to dominate the world's personal computer market.

Adobe Creative Suite

Company / developer:
  Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe Creative Suite

Adobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The latest version, Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4), was announced on December, 2008; it introduced Universal binaries for all major programs for the Apple Macintosh.

Adobe sells CS4 applications in six different combinations called "editions."

CS4 includes several programs, including Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks that were developed by Macromedia, a former rival acquired by Adobe in 2005.

An extra DVD is supplied with Arabic, Hebrew and North African versions of Adobe CS4 in Central European and Middle Eastern versions for language support. For example, these versions handle bi-directional text flow for easy usage in accordance to keyboard language, advanced text settings, right-to-left layout, import and export options for Middle Eastern characters, and spell checker for Middle Eastern languages. These versions are only available from WinSoft, Adobe’s internationalization and localization partner.

Creative Suite Family editions:

Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium
Adobe Creative Suite Design Standard
Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium
Adobe Creative Suite Web Standard
Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium
Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection

Unix

Company / developer:
  The Open Group

Unix

Unix operating systems are widely used in both servers and workstations. The Unix environment and the client-server program model were essential elements in the development of the Internet and the reshaping of computing as centered in networks rather than in individual computers.

Both Unix and the C programming language were developed by AT&T and distributed to government and academic institutions, causing both to be ported to a wider variety of machine families than any other operating system. As a result, Unix became synonymous with "open systems".

Unix was designed to be portable, multi-tasking and multi-user in a time-sharing configuration. Unix systems are characterized by various concepts: the use of plain text for storing data; a hierarchical file system; treating devices and certain types of inter-process communication (IPC) as files; and the use of a large number of software tools, small programs that can be strung together through a command line interpreter using pipes, as opposed to using a single monolithic program that includes all of the same functionality. These concepts are known as the Unix philosophy.

Under Unix, the "operating system" consists of many of these utilities along with the master control program, the kernel. The kernel provides services to start and stop programs, handle the file system and other common "low level" tasks that most programs share, and, perhaps most importantly, schedules access to hardware to avoid conflicts if two programs try to access the same resource or device simultaneously. To mediate such access, the kernel was given special rights on the system, leading to the division between user-space and kernel-space.

The microkernel concept was introduced in an effort to reverse the trend towards larger kernels and return to a system in which most tasks were completed by smaller utilities. In an era when a "normal" computer consisted of a hard disk for storage and a data terminal for input and output (I/O), the Unix file model worked quite well as most I/O was "linear". However, modern systems include networking and other new devices. As graphical user interfaces developed, the file model proved inadequate to the task of handling asynchronous events such as those generated by a mouse, and in the 1980s non-blocking I/O and the set of inter-process communication mechanisms was augmented (sockets, shared memory, message queues, semaphores), and functionalities such as network protocols were moved out of the kernel.

ImageMagick®

Company / developer:
  ImageMagick Studio LLC

ImageMagick

ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap images. It can read, convert and write images in a variety of formats (over 100) including DPX, EXR, GIF, JPEG, JPEG-2000, PDF, PhotoCD, PNG, Postscript, SVG, and TIFF. Use ImageMagick to translate, flip, mirror, rotate, scale, shear and transform images, adjust image colors, apply various special effects, or draw text, lines, polygons, ellipses and Bézier curves.

The functionality of ImageMagick is typically utilized from the command line or you can use the features from programs written in your favorite programming language. Choose from these interfaces: G2F (Ada), MagickCore (C), MagickWand (C), ChMagick (Ch), ImageMagickObject (COM+), Magick++ (C++), JMagick (Java), L-Magick (Lisp), NMagick (Neko/haXe), MagickNet (.NET), PascalMagick (Pascal), PerlMagick (Perl), MagickWand for PHP (PHP), IMagick (PHP), PythonMagick (Python), RMagick (Ruby), or TclMagick (Tcl/TK). With a language interface, use ImageMagick to modify or create images dynamically and automagically.

Adobe Photoshop

Company / developer:
  Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe® Photoshop®

Adobe® Photoshop® is the professional image-editing standard and leader of the Photoshop digital imaging line, delivers more of what you crave. Groundbreaking creative tools help you achieve extraordinary results. Unprecedented adaptability lets you custom-fit Photoshop to the way you work. And with more efficient editing, processing, and file handling, there's no slowing you down.

Microsoft Windows

Company / developer:
  Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a family of operating systems by Microsoft. They can run on several types of platforms such as servers, embedded devices and, most typically, on personal computers. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing trend of graphical user interfaces (GUI) popularized by the Macintosh. Microsoft Windows eventually came to dominate the world's personal computer market.

ChiWriter

Company / developer:
  ChiWriter

ChiWriter is a scientific multifont word processor. It was developed and, until 1995, commercially distributed by Horstmann Software Development Corporation, USA. It was designed to work in an MS-DOS environment, though it can also be launched from an icon under Windows 3.xx or Windows 95. It creates its own graphic screen, and some of the resolutions offer mouse support. However, the lack of true Windows support probably led to the downfall of ChiWriter. Since 1995 Horstmann is out of business, and all support for ChiWriter has stopped.

Windows 3.x

Company / developer:
  Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Windows 3.x

Windows 3.0 (1990) and Windows 3.1 (1992) improved the design, mostly because of virtual memory and loadable virtual device drivers (VxDs), which allowed them to share arbitrary devices between multitasked DOS Windows. Also, Windows applications could now run in protected mode (when Windows was running in Standard or 386 Enhanced Mode), which gave them access to several megabytes of memory and removed the obligation to participate in the software virtual memory scheme. They still ran inside the same address space, where the segmented memory provided a degree of protection, and multi-tasked cooperatively. For Windows 3.0, Microsoft also rewrote critical operations from C into assembly, making this release faster and less memory-hungry than its predecessors.
Microsoft also released an update for Windows 3.1 which (aside from installing new files) changes the Windows version displayed in "About" dialog boxes to 3.11. Thus, Windows 3.11 isn't a standalone version of Windows, but rather a software update from Windows 3.1, much like modern Windows service packs. For those who did not own Windows 3.1, full disk sets of Windows 3.11 were available at the time. management.

Mac OS X

Company / developer:
  Apple, Inc.

Introduction to Mac OS X

Ever wonder why people get so attached to their Mac? Think Mac OS X. At the core of every Mac, Mac OS X is what makes your digital life more simple, more productive, and just plain fun.

It’s easy.

Mac OS X is a celebration of simplicity and common sense. No complicated menus. No obscure commands. Most tasks can be accomplished with just a click or two. And if you ever need guidance, there’s a built-in help system to light the way. Oh, one more thing: Mac OS X is simply breathtaking — and easy to personalize with desktop pictures and screen savers.

It’s advanced.

Making amazing things simple takes seriously advanced technology. Mac OS X is built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, delivers true 64-bit performance, and incorporates industry-leading animated graphics. The beauty is, you don’t have to know what one word of that means — just start up your Mac and enjoy it.

It’s amazing.

More than an operating system, Mac OS X is a collection of very cool applications. It comes with everything you need to surf the web, send beautifully designed email, video chat, and organize your personal information.

It’s secure.

In a world where PCs constantly do battle with viruses and malware, Mac OS X is a sea of tranquility. Just go about your business and Mac OS X minds the fortress. Your documents are safe even if you share your Mac with others, and you can keep your kids safe by using a rich set of parental controls.

It’s compatible.

It’s a big world out there, and Mac OS X fits in perfectly. It runs Microsoft Office. It has built-in drivers for cameras, printers, and external drives. It plugs right into a PC network. And in case there’s a PC application you can’t live without, Mac computers can even run Windows. Mac OS X is compatible with everything — most of all, you.