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To start off the new year, several LWM editors have compiled a list of what they consider to be the best solutions of 2004 in their particular field of expertise.

The following is a list of the editors' selections and why they chose those particular products.

Best LAMP Technologies

BY MARTIN C. BROWN
LAMP is a funny part of the open source market. Parts of it keep chugging along with incremental updates and other parts march along at breakneck speed with a raft of new features and extensions, seemingly every month.

PHP 5
By far the biggest leap forward in LAMP technology this year was the release of PHP 5 from Zend Technologies (www.php.net). PHP has been a key part of the Unix/Linux Web application scene for quite a while. Similar in many ways to Perl 4 in terms of its structure, PHP has the benefit of being easy to learn. More important, it's easy to read, understand what's going on, and adapt. Unlike Perl, since PHP is embedded into the HTML pages it requires none of the additional processing baggage or overhead associated with other Web-friendly development languages.

Today, PHP is huge. Netcraft counts 15 million Internet hosts running PHP. PHP 5 was introduced primarily to improve the object-orientation features of the language. First and foremost it fixed the unexpected nature of objects supported in PHP 3 and 4, while adding a load of new features to the object model to enable PHP to be used more effectively in an object-oriented fashion. PHP 5 also includes extensive support for XML parsing, processing, and XML technologies like XSLT along with Web services support through SOAP, including support for WSDL.

With these additional features and news out just at the end of 2004 that some of the larger commercial companies are now adopting PHP as their preferred Web platform, we can expect to see more about PHP in 2005.

MySQL
MySQL continues to impress me; as more features are added the product and performance just get better and better. 2004 saw us move to 4.1 code, which provided both simple and more advanced improvements, from extensions to the SQL language to changes to the indexing and caching algorithms for faster query executions.

Better still, in my opinion, was the release of MySQL Cluster as part of the 4.1 release. Finally we get to set up a clustered MySQL database on a series of cheap commodity boxes and obtain similar levels of availability for significantly less than the cost of dedicated hardware, and commercial grade software such as Oracle and SQL Server. In my opinion, this fills one of the biggest gaps and areas of complaint against open source technology.

With the introduction of MySQL 5.0 betas in 2004, it appears 2005 is going to be an interesting year.

Wider Adoption
Most significant in the last year is the general wider adoption of LAMP technologies as a viable alternative to the likes of Java and ASP. Up until now many companies have seen LAMP as the technology to use when you can't afford to use the other options. Now companies and organizations, commercial and otherwise, are using LAMP technology in preference to, and often in spite of, alternatives from the Java, ASP, and commercial camps.

This isn't because of cost; it's because the open source alternatives are as good as or better than the alternative while also being easier to use and easier to audit. The coming year will see some interesting battles and discussions behind closed doors.

Dr. Migration's Best of the Linux Desktop

BY MARK R. HINKLE
My favorite desktop applications for this year are a combination of old and new favorites, many simply because they are open source and cross platform so I can start to recommend them to others, whether they are making the jump to Linux now or later. Open source applications that can make the jump from Windows to Linux are important as they make it possible for PC users to get familiar with new applications on a familiar platform, thereby reducing the learning curve.

Nvu -Web Authoring Tools
The first is Nvu (www.nvu.com), a Web authoring tool suite sponsored by Linspire (www.linspire.com), the makers of the popular Linux desktop. The Nvu Web publishing tools are based on the Mozilla Composer code base and have since focused on five areas of improvement: ease of use, WYSIWIG editing, integrated file management, enhanced handling of forms and templates, and extensibility that allows users to add improvements in the form of extensions.

Unlike many open source projects, Nvu is backed by the commitments of a company so there is a likelihood of the project continuing through corporate sponsorship. Also, the Nvu suite is a very good alternative to other commercial packages like Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia's Dreamweaver.

The Gimp - Graphics Program
GIMP, short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a robust graphics program that is very similar to Adobe Photoshop. GIMP runs on a number of platforms including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. The Gimp is useful as it can perform advanced image editing and authoring as well as some common, useful, simple applications like screen captures and the conversion of pictures from one format to another. Also the GIMP is extremely powerful and while most of us might need a good free image editor, those people who need a more robust tool need look no further. The GIMP provides a wide variety of tools including filters for adding special effects and a scripting language (Script-Fu) that can be used to create automated tasks like the creation of Web page buttons or other elements that benefit from easy duplication. The GIMP is extensible and also supports plug-ins that can create additional functionality in the form of special effects to GIMP. There's an archive of available plug-ins on their Web site (http://registry.gimp.org).

The Core Applications - Firefox and OpenOffice.org
I debated whether or not to give the nod to Firefox (www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) and OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org) for their two excellent applications because of the time devoted in previous columns to both of these apps, but I thought I would be remiss not to give the nod to these two core applications that are becoming the foundation for Linux desktop computing. They both are just simply excellent and on top of that they're free. Firefox released its 1.0 version in November of this year and OpenOffice.org celebrated its third anniversary this October. Both of these applications work well on Windows and Linux and user feedback for both is overwhelmingly positive. They also provide a greater service to the Linux desktop than most of us realize. They are providing legitimate, widely adopted alternatives to proprietary closed source software, which is an ideal proof of concept for those Windows users who are hesitant to move platforms due to fears about the readiness of open source technologies.

Firefox and OpenOffice.org have racked up accolades from countless users and pundits alike. Moreover they are starting to introduce real competition in the browser and office suite space. The effects of their popularity are probably much broader than most of us realize. Down the road they could be pointed to as the catalyst for Linux desktop adoption.

Best Clusters Book

BY IBRAHIM HADDAD
There is one book that is by far the best book on clustering I have come across.

Building Clustered Linux Systems by Robert W. Lucke
(Prentice Hall PTR)
This book is an in-depth introduction to Linux clustering for Unix and Linux system administrators who may not be familiar with clustering technologies. One main difference between this book and others is its approach. Its stated goal is to introduce clustering technology to traditional IT environments and organizations that are interested in the advantages of clustered systems, without assuming any prior experience with clustered systems.

In addition to explaining many of the available individual hardware and software components that may make up a cluster, the book contains useful Linux system administration information. Sections cover software infrastructure such as secure shell (SSH), kickstart, SystemImager, NIS, Kerberos, and NFS that may be employed in nonclustered environments.

The author, Robert Lucke, presents a process for the creation of clusters, a detailed example of physical construction, examples of heat and power calculations, and a comparison of cluster hardware costs versus large SMP systems. The strength of this book is its ability to tie all of the loose pieces of Linux cluster design and implementation into a "global picture." It's easy to read and is immediately usable by organizations or individuals who are building their first Linux cluster or are interested in exploring the possibility.

Best Gaming Industry Events

BY DEE-ANN LEBLANC
Rather than doing a best of just games, since I'm supposed to be covering the whole industry, I thought I'd try to be a bit more creative. Here are my picks for the "best of" when it comes to the 2004 Linux gaming industry.

Best Linux Games
Okay, picking the best game is hard, especially since I don't have time to play every game out there and "best game" is a pretty subjective, personal decision (kind of like best Olympic ice skating routine). I'm sure I'll get hate mail when I don't pick particular people's favorites. My apologies in advance!

Since there are many types of games in the Linux world, I thought I'd break my picks down into categories:

Best Mainstream Commercial Linux Game:
Unreal Tournament 2004 from Epic
I won't go into heavy detail here as to why I chose this one. See my editorial, "The Linux Gaming Industry: Looking Back and Ahead," for my reasoning. This game is available as a client under Linux (sorry, but I won't even consider it if it's not), and the client is mostly as good as the Windows client.

Best Independent Commercial Linux Game:
Gish from Garage Games and Chronic Logic
This blob of tar has some awesome fluid dynamics going on, and the physics throughout the game is superb. It's a puzzle-style game in that you have to move your way through various levels to their ends, while dodging monsters and figuring out the best combination of climbing, bouncing, oozing, and more to get through it all. Who thought being a blob of tar could be so fun?

Best Free, Open Source Games of 2004:
FreeCiv and Battle for Wesnoth
These two games equally plague me when I'm procrastinating, so I'll give them equal billing. They're complex, nice to look at, and their teams haven't lost interest and wandered off to something else - a problem that generally hits open source game projects for some reason.

Now for the non-game categories.

Best Linux Game Company:
Garage Games
They earned this award in part for open sourcing their Torque Network Library. Their policy of inexpensively licensing their Torque Engine also gives them a huge thumbs up (though it's not new as of 2004) as it helps more small game developers get into the space. Garage Games has also, as mentioned in my editorial in this issue, released quite a number of games that can run natively under Linux, which is always appreciated. Never underestimate the value of their Candy Cruncher game until you try it and end up getting stuck in a combination of salivating and a sudden inability to leave the computer and go to the store to grab some candy.

Company Most Helpful to Linux Gamers:
TransGaming
Love them or hate them (and people tend to passionately feel one way or the other), TransGaming does a lot to make sure that people who don't want to keep Windows around can play their favorite games anyway. Those of us who refuse to keep a Windows machine around just for game playing are appreciative of their efforts. Whenever TransGaming nags the mainstream game publishers, it also has the effect of making those publishers more aware that the demand among Linux users is a potential platform for their products.