Two new tools to help buyers evaluate major IT purchases This issue marks two important firsts for InfoWorld, only one of which actually appears in the pages of our magazine.The one in print is the 26-page special report on IT hardware and software that serves as our cover story. We know from research that what readers find most valuable about InfoWorld are its in-depth product reviews. Nearly three out of four readers report having made specific purchase decisions based on our Test Center’s analyses.Now for the first time, InfoWorld has collected all 229 reviews from the past 12 months into a single package. The products covered are grouped into eight major sections, including Applications, Networking, Storage, and Security. The sections are further divided into subgroups — Applications, for example, includes collaboration products, data management products, and so forth — for a total of 39 types overall. Each review includes a Bottom Line summary and score as well as online pointers to the complete review.Our aim has been to create an issue that can help readers make product decisions well into 2004. And that brings me to the other first at InfoWorld this week, the newly expanded Product Reviews Guide on our online Test Center landing page.The guide is, in effect, an expanded version of Leaderboard, which appears in print (and is omitted this week to make room for the cover story). But unlike Leaderboard, which can rarely highlight more than two or three major product types a week, the online guide includes all the reviews we’ve published beginning in 2003. And on the Web, of course, the original review — plus supporting information — is never more than a click away. Credit for this new feature belongs to a number of people, including team leader Matt McAlister, our vice president and general manager of InfoWorld.com; Senior Web Designer Eric Hill; Engineering Manager Derek Butcher; Senior Software Engineer Chris Lin; Software Engineer Kevin Varley; and ace freelancer J. Todd Ormsbee.You can navigate to the Product Reviews guide by going to the homepage at infoworld.com and then clicking on the Test Center tab. We hope you’ll find it useful throughout the year in researching and evaluating your company’s purchases, and we’d be delighted to hear suggestions for how to do more. Software Development