DeveloperWorks is a free web-based professional network and technical resource center from IBM for software developers, IT professionals, and students worldwide. The site reaches over 8M developers in 195 countries and is designed to help users develop skills, solve problems, collaborate with peers, and stay ahead of the latest trends in open standards.developerWorks contains thousands of how-to articles and tutorials, as well as software downloads and code samples, discussion forums, podcasts, blogs, wikis, and other resources. Users can get up to speed quickly on the most critical technologies affecting their profession, like open, industry-standard technologies such as Java, Linux, SOA and web services, web development, Ajax, PHP, and XML, as well as learn about IBM's software products. The site also provides information on trends such as Green IT, Cloud computing, and IBM's Smarter Planet initiative. Microsoft's MSDN is a similar site.