Capability: Pinion Desktop protects information shared in the normal course of business by imposing permissions on Autodesk drawing, SolidWorks eDrawing, portable-document format, tagged-image file format, and Word files. The permissions restrict how recipients may use the files. No server is needed. The workgroup edition is made up of a five-user license, intended for departmental use. This edition operates in stand-alone mode or it can be integrated with Outlook and Lotus Notes plug-ins. With the integrated approach, companies can impose usage restrictions on e-mail messages as well as on a variety of technical and business-application files.

Hardware: PC running Windows 2000, NT, or XP.

Developer: Pinion Software Inc., 12885 Research Blvd., Ste. 204, Austin, TX 78750; (512) 583-5000; fax (512) 583-5075; pinionsoftware.com.

Cost: $299, basic; $4,995, workgroup edition.

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Scripting, Plotting,
Program- ming

Capability: Ch is a cross platform C and C++ interpreter for scripting, 2-D and 3-D graphical plotting, numerical computing, shell programming, and embedded scripting. The application supports 1999 ISO C Standard complex numbers, variable length arrays, IEEE-754 floating-point arithmetic functions, and general mathematical functions. It contains computational arrays for linear algebra and matrix computations. A professional edition also includes high-level numerical functions for linear systems, for differential-equation solving, and for Fourier analysis. It supports the Ch Control Toolkit, the Ch Mechanism Toolkit, the Ch NAG statistics package, and others.

Hardware: PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, and XP, or the Linux, Unix, or Macintosh OS X operating systems.

Developer: SoftIntegration Inc., 216 F St., No. 68, Davis, CA 95616; www. softintegration.com; info@softintegration.com.

Cost: Standard edition is free; professional edition is free for academic use, $199 for commercial or personal use.

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Capability: Avance 3.0 acquires data and calculates statistical control of processes in real time. The software was developed specifically for nontechnical manufacturers and engineers who need quality control tools. Avance manages, in real time, data from inputs such as manual input, Excel spreadsheets, text files, serial connections, and process-control servers. New features in this upgrade include flexible charting capabilities, data analysis tools, and a python-scripting environment for data analysis. Also included are new options for viewing control charts, such as moving windows, logbook entries, and interactive subgroup selection.

Hardware: PC running Windows 2000, NT, or XP.

Developers: Avance Control, 10733 Whitman Ave N., Seattle, WA 98133; (425) 941-2889; www.AvanceControl.com.

Cost: $500 for annual license.

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Publish 3-D Pages

Capability: Pages3D gives you a way to create documents that include 3-D content, such as 3-D Web pages, CDs, and portable-document files. These documents can include instructions or demonstrate how a part would operate. This desktop publishing application combines 3-D technology with page layout tools. The professional version offers the capability to make interactive 3-D PDF files, which can include interactive buttons and tables. Multiple-page documents can be published and updated without the need for JavaScript programming.

Hardware: PC running Windows 2000, NT, or XP.

Developer: QuadriSpace Corp., 705 North Greenville St., Ste. 800, Allen, TX 75002; (972) 359-8488; fax (972) 359-7003; www.document3d.com.

Cost: $795; $995, professional version.

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Calcu- lation Auto- mation

Capability: InventBetter Suite 2007 automates engineering calculation. It's composed of three separate software applications: GrafiCalc 2007, a geometrical spreadsheet for solving geometry-dependent engineering problems; ToleranceCalc 4.0, a wizard for linear stack-up and statistical tolerance analysis of CAD parts and assemblies; and SectionCalc 4.0, a wizard to calculate CAD cross-section properties.

Hardware: PC running Windows 2000, NT, or XP.

Developer: Geomate Co., 3474 Nova Scotia Ave., San Jose, CA 95124; www.inventbetter.com; info@inventbetter.com.

Cost: $299.

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