While I wish I were a mathematical genius (that title goes to my older brother), I'm still fascinated by the elegant nature, order and beauty that can be experienced watching math in motion.  My brother can visualize complex equations and and do high level discrete math in his head. 

I need a tool like Mathematica to help me see what he does in his mind's eye.  Fortunately for me, I can use Mathematica to share my visions with others while my brother has to do his best to paint his picture with hastily scrawled chicken scratch.

I was fortunate to interview Tom Wickham-Jones, Director of Kernel Technology for Wolfram Research, last year about the new features available in the Mathmatica 6.0 release.  As a result of that experience, I have gained an even deeper appreciation for this 'AutoCAD for the Mathematically Inclined' system.  Mathematica has continued breaking intense computational barriers with their partners, emphasized by a recent announcement that "Colfax International, a major producer of business-in-a-box server systems, and in collaboration with Microsoft and Intel, Wolfram is making gridMathematica 2.2 available preinstalled on the Colfax CX6000 Workgroup Cluster".  Read this press release for more details about this interesting news.

I am also looking forward to covering for DDJ the upcoming International Mathematica Users Conference 2008 being held in Champaign, Illinois late October of this year.  Mathematica fans should stay tuned to Dr. Dobbs Journal Podcasts this autumn as there are plans to interview the conference organizers and key speakers before and during this year's conference.