A new, free resource for IT buyers from InfoWorld and OSTG We’ve just unveiled the public beta of the IT Product Guide, a new online tool to help IT buyers make smarter purchases.This site is still in its shakedown phase, so for now you’ll find it here. But by October, you’ll find it on our home page, on our TechIndex pages, and linked from all InfoWorld.com articles that mention a product.The IT Product Guide is a joint production of InfoWorld and Open Source Technology Group (OSTG), the parent company of sites such as Slashdot and SourceForge. We’re contributing our Test Center reviews, news articles, and other editorial content. OSTG will be tapping the resources of its large IT community to contribute peer reviews. All of this content is organized by company and even specific product. So, for example, if you’re looking for information on Merant Professional 8, you can go here to see the page that includes links to relevant content.Once there, click on the Reviews tab for the complete review, the Specs tab for the manufacturer’s specs, the User Reviews tab for any peer comments, and so forth. There are also Company and Buying Info tabs for those who want to dig deeper into the product.For now, the database is limited to a few hundred products. But by launch, with the addition of vendor information and third-party feeds, we expect that number to grow to several thousand. The IT Product Guide is also innovative in that it appears at OSTG, where it’s housed on the IT Manager’s Journal.The idea is to create a deep, valuable resource of information for IT buyers that is driven partly by expert and feed content, and partly by the people who buy and use the products we cover.We invite your comments on the public beta of the IT Product Guide (my e-mail address appears below). And we’ll keep you apprised of the Guide as it grows and evolves. Software DevelopmentTechnology IndustryDatabasesSecuritySmall and Medium Business