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	TABLE OF CONTENTS Merrily Down the Stream Thinking of Java

If you're unfamiliar with AccuRev's multiplatform software- configuration management tools, here's the 30,000-foot view. Instead of managing files and check-ins, AccuRev thinks in streams and promotions—process paths that encompass files and steps along the way. You can split, merge, move on or back up in simple GUI-driven operations (but there's a command line under the hood if you need it). What's particularly interesting to me is how easy it is to map streams and promotions onto a particular development pro-cess, rather than the other way around.

Version 4.0 of AccuRev includes some new features that change SCM from an isolated output of your process to an integrated part of it. To start with, there's bidirectional integration with its own issue-tracking tool, AccuWork. At press time, the company was exploiting its AccuBridge integration SDK to achieve the same with Serena TeamTrack, IBM Rational ClearQuest, MKS Integrity Manager, Bugzilla and JIRA. Want to see what bugs were fixed by a particular change package? Two clicks. For that matter, imagine taking a diff between two development streams and having the answer come up in issues, rather than source lines! Since the over-the-wire protocol is heavily optimized for wide-area networks, AccuRev is a natural for server replication; 4.0 adds that feature (and you can pick which source files your outsourcers can see or promote in about four clicks). You can declutter your view of the streams with a new zoom feature, drag-and-drop to promote or merge and more.

[Click image to view at full size]

AccuRev manages software configuration changes via a stream metaphor. Here, a user zooms in on a stream to declutter the display with a detailed view of specific objects.

All in all, the new version is slicker, smoother and operates at an even higher level of abstraction than previous versions, while still giving you access to the details if you need them.

A typical enterprise installation of AccuRev, including AccuWork, runs $1,495 per seat.

AccuRev, 10 Maguire Rd., Bldg. 1, Lexington, MA 02421, Tel: (800) 383-8170, Fax: (781) 861-8704, www.accurev.com

—Rick Wayne

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