Free general purpose software for mac

Panorama Enterprise Server 5.5.2 is designed as a totally RAM based general purpose database server which is useful for Mac OS X. This server allows lightning fast RAM based databases to be shared by multiple users with full record locking. These users may be on a local network or spread across the Internet (or even without a network at all, see below). The Panorama Enterprise Server can also be used to create ultra-fast web database applications.

Unlike traditional client/server systems that sequester all of the data on a central server, the Panorama Enterprise system uses a "mesh" architecture to distribute RAM based copies of the shared data across the network. This mesh technology dramatically cuts delays associated with common database tasks by spreading the load across the network.

The Enterprise system works much like a formation of fighter jets teamed with an aerial tanker. Instead of hoarding all of the data on the central server, the Enterprise system distributes complete, redundant copies of the shared data across the network mesh. Operations that don't involve other clients (searching, sorting, analysis, reports, etc.) are performed independently at solid state speed in each client's local RAM, there are no disk delays anywhere in the system. The server is only involved for coordinating data flow across the mesh, managing record locking and updating modified data on clients as necessary.

One unique feature of the system is that users can disconnect from the network and continue working even when completely offline and detached -- for example when on an airplane or away from network connections. Database changes made while offline are synchronized automatically when returning to the network. No special setup or programming is required -- this synchronization logic is built into the server itself. This feature is especially useful for companies with employees working in the field.

Other key features of Panorama Enterprise Server include WYSIWYG design tools for building web forms, remote configuration, management and debugging tools, support for Google Analytics, and automatic backup of live databases.

A 45 day demo of this product can be downloaded from the ProVUE web site. Version Tracker users can extend this demo to 101 days by using the coupon code VT8722.

Requirements: Mac OS X Intel, Mac OS X PPC

Calibre 0.6.15 brings you an effective solution to your e-book needs. It is free, open source and cross-platform in design. Calibre is meant to be a complete e-library solution and thus includes library management, format conversion, news feeds to e-book conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an integrated e-book viewer.

Major Features:

1. Library Management:
   
   • calibre is primarily a ebook cataloging program. It manages your ebook collection for you. It is designed around the concept of the logical book, i.e. a single entry in the database that may correspond to ebooks in several formats.
   • calibre support sorting the books in its database by:
   • • Title
     • Author
     • Date
     • Publisher
     • Rating
     • Size (Max size of all formats)
     • Series
   • It also supports extra metadata fields that can be searched on:
   • • Comments: A general purpose field that can be used to describe the book, add notes on it, etc.
     • Tags: A flexible system to categorize books. You can tag any book with any custom tag to indicate subject, read status, category, etc.
   • The database view also supports filtering by searching on the metadata. You can perform advanced searching on individual metadata fields by clicking the advanced search button to the left of the search bar.
   • You can export subsets of the books in your collection by using the Save to disk button.
   • You can fetch metadata from the internet for a book based on its ISBN number or its title/author, instead of manually entering the metadata. You can also fetch a cover image based on the ISBN number.
2. Format Conversion: calibre supports conversion from a dozen different ebook formats to LRF and EPUB. An graphical interface to the conversion software can be accessed by clicking the "Convert E-books" button. The commandline access is via the command any2lrf and any2epub. The full list of supported formats. The conversion is very powerful and supports advanced typesetting features like tables, dropcaps, inline images, embedded fonts, etc.
3. Syncing to E-reader Devices: calibre has a modular device driver design that makes adding support for different e-reader devices easy. At the moment, it has support for the SONY PRS 500/505/700, Cybook Gen 3, Amazon Kindle (1 and 2) and the iPhone (with the stanza reader software). Syncing supports updating metadata on the device from metadata in the library and the creation of collections on the device based on the tags defined in the library view. If an book has more than one format available, calibre automatically chooses the best format when uploading to the device.
4. Fetching News: calibre can automatically fetch news from a number of websites/RSS feeds, format the news into a ebook and upload to a connected device. At the moment there is support for generating LRF/EPUB ebooks. The ebooks include the *full* versions of the articles, not just the summaries. Supported news sites include:
   • Newsweek
   • New York Times
   • The BBC
   • The Economist
   • The Wall Street Journal
   • ESPN
5. Viewing E-books: calibre has a built-in ebook viewer that can display all the major ebook formats.
6. Content server: calibre has a builtin web server that gives allows you to access your ebook collection using a simple browser from any computer anywhere in the world. It can also email your books and downloaded news to you automatically.