lakeFS is an open-source data version control system for managing data stored in object storage. It provides Git-like operations such as branching, committing, merging, and reverting for large-scale data stored in systems including Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage, as well as other S3-compatible object storage platforms. lakeFS is used in data engineering and machine learning workflows to manage changes to data, support reproducibility, and enable data governance across data lakes. The software is available as an open-source project, as well as in enterprise and managed service offerings, including lakeFS Cloud. == History == lakeFS was created in 2020 by Einat Orr and Oz Katz at Treeverse. Its first public release, version 0.8.1, appeared in August 2020 and introduced Git-style operations with support for Amazon S3. In 2021, Treeverse raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Dell Technologies Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Zeev Ventures. The same year, lakeFS was included in InfoWorld’s Best of Open Source Software (Bossie) awards. In June 2022, Treeverse introduced lakeFS Cloud, a managed service providing hosted lakeFS deployments for cloud-based data lakes. Version 1.0 was released in October 2023, adding integrations with platforms such as Databricks and Apache Iceberg, as well as support for orchestration tools including Apache Airflow. Public case studies and conference materials have described usage of lakeFS by organizations such as Microsoft, Volvo, and NASA. In July 2025, Treeverse announced an additional $20 million in growth funding to support further development of lakeFS. In November 2025, Treeverse announced the acquisition of the open-source data version control project DVC. == Software == === Overview === lakeFS provides Git-like operations such as branching, committing, merging, and reverting for datasets stored in object storage. These operations are used to manage changes to data, test modifications in isolation, reproduce specific data states, and recover from errors or unintended updates. === Architecture === lakeFS operates as a metadata layer on top of object storage systems such as Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage. It stores repository metadata describing commits, branches, and tags, enabling versioned views of data without copying underlying objects. The system provides access through multiple interfaces, including a web user interface, command-line tools, a REST API, and software development kits. It is designed to integrate with existing data engineering and machine learning workflows, and can be deployed either in self-hosted environments or as a managed service. === Functions === lakeFS provides version control functionality for data stored in object storage–based data lakes. Core features include: Atomic commits and version tracking for datasets, supporting reproducibility and auditability. Branching and merging mechanisms that allow isolated development and testing without duplicating data. Configurable hooks that can validate data or trigger external processes during commit and merge operations. The ability to revert repositories to earlier states to recover from data errors or failed changes. Recording of commit history and associated metadata for lineage tracking. Support for managing data across multiple object storage systems, including Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, and MinIO. Use of fixed data versions to reproduce experiments and machine learning model training. === Integrations === Coverage of lakeFS has described integrations with platforms such as Databricks and Apache Iceberg, as well as support for environments including Red Hat OpenShift. Additional materials describe its use with Trino, including validation of data changes prior to merging in versioned data workflows, as well as compatibility with orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow.
Thinkfree Office
Thinkfree Office is a web-based commercial office productivity suite developed by South Korea-based Thinkfree Inc. It includes Word (a word processor), Spreadsheet (a spreadsheet) and Presentation (a presentation program). They are compatible with Microsoft Office's Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It also features collaborative editing. The product is hosted on the client's server. == Supported file formats == Thinkfree Office supports ISO/IEC international standard ISO/IEC 26300 Open Document Format for Office Applications (odf, odt, odp, ods, odg). It also supports Microsoft's XML formats (docx, pptx, xlsx) and Microsoft's legacy binary formats (doc, ppt, xls). == Naming == The software was previously marketed under different names, such as Thinkfree Server, Thinkfree Online, Hancom Office Online, and Hancom Office Web. Eventually, the brand was consolidated under the name Thinkfree Office. == History == In June 2000, Thinkfree Inc. released Thinkfree Office, based in Silicon Valley, California. It is recognized as the world's first online office editor (predating Google Docs and Microsoft 365) and attracted significant media coverage, including reports on CNN. In 2001, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer highlighted Thinkfree as a significant competitor in a magazine interview, considering it a potential threat to his company, second only to Linux. In November 2003, Hancom, a South Korean office software company, signed a memorandum of understanding and subsequently acquired Thinkfree. In January 2004, Thinkfree expanded into other foreign markets. Subsidiary Haansoft USA, Inc. was created in San Jose, California to begin formal commercial operations in the US market. At the same time, a partnership was established with Riverdeep with the purpose of improving marketshare. In February 2004, expansion into the Japanese market began. A commercial agency agreement was signed with PSI in Shinjuku, Japan, which allowed for localized distribution. In addition, a global agreement was entered into with Yamada Denki, one of the three main computer distributors in Japan, for a total of 180,000 units. In May 2006, Thinkfree Office received the "Product of the Year" award at the Well-Connected Awards, USA. In January 2009, Thinkfree Mobile was launched at CES 2009 in Las Vegas. In April 2009, Thinkfree Live, Korea's first web office service, was launched. In June 2018, a partnership was formed with Amazon Web Services to integrate Thinkfree Office into WorkDocs, an in-house office suite. In October 2023, Hancom split its online office business unit as "Thinkfree Inc.".
Cheng Xiang Zhai
ChengXiang Zhai is a computer scientist. He is a Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. == Biography == Zhai received the BS (1984), MS (1987, under Guoliang Zheng), and PhD (1990, under Jiafu Xu) in Computer Science from Nanjing University. He spent 1990 to 1993 working at Nanjing University's State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology. In 1993, he left for America to pursue a second PhD, this time at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) with David A. Evans. Evans then left to spend more time with the company ClariTech. Zhai obtained from CMU a MS (1997) in computational linguistics and then started working with John Lafferty. He finally received from CMU a PhD in Language and Information Technologies in 2002. Since then, he has been an Assistant Professor (2002–2008), Associate Professor (2008–2013), Professor (2013–2018), and Donald Biggar Willett Professor (2018–) at the UIUC Department of Computer Science. He also holds joint appointments with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Department of Statistics, and School of Information Sciences at UIUC. == Awards == ACM SIGIR Gerard Salton Award, 2021, "for significant and sustained contributions to information retrieval and data science. His work has defined many of the theoretical foundations of the language modeling approach, yielding major insights into areas such as smoothing methods, relevance feedback, topic diversification, and text representations that incorporate positional information. He and his collaborators have also pioneered the axiomatic approach to information retrieval, which continues to provide inspiration for retrieval model and evaluation research." ACM SIGIR Academy inductee, 2021 ACM Fellow, 2017, "for contributions to information retrieval and text data mining." ACM SIGIR Test of Time Award, 2016, for paper A study of smoothing methods for language models applied to Ad Hoc information retrieval ACM SIGIR Test of Time Award, 2016, for paper Document language models, query models, and risk minimization for information retrieval ACM SIGIR Test of Time Award, 2014, for paper Beyond independent relevance: methods and evaluation metrics for subtopic retrieval ACM Distinguished Member, 2009 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2004, "for his work on user-centered, adaptive intelligent information access. His techniques expect to improve search-engine performance, support better information organization and enable understanding of large volumes of information. Zhai's work in information retrieval is expected to enhance curricula and provide new educational tools for the growing information technology workforce." ACM SIGIR Best Paper Award, 2004, for paper A formal study of information retrieval heuristics == Personal == Zhai's son Alex has earned three medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Top 10 AI Photo Editors Compared (2026)
Looking for the best AI photo editor? An AI photo editor is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it can save you hours every week by automating repetitive work. Most options offer a generous free tier, with paid plans unlocking higher limits, faster processing, and team features. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI photo editor slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. This guide breaks down the top picks, their pros and cons, and who each one is best for.
AI Sales Assistants: Free vs Paid (2026)
Trying to pick the best AI sales assistant? An AI sales assistant is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it scales effortlessly from a single task to thousands. The best picks balance beginner-friendly simplicity with the depth power users need, and they ship updates often. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI sales assistant slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. Read on for hands-on impressions, pricing tiers, and the standout features that matter.
Logic form
Logic forms are simple, first-order logic knowledge representations of natural language sentences formed by the conjunction of concept predicates related through shared arguments. Each noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjunction generates a predicate. Logic forms can be decorated with word senses to disambiguate the semantics of the word. There are two types of predicates: events are marked with e, and entities are marked with x. The shared arguments connect the subjects and objects of verbs and prepositions together. Example input/output might look like this: Input: The Earth provides the food we eat every day. Output: Earth:n_#1(x1) provide:v_#2(e1, x1, x2) food:n_#1(x2) we(x3) eat:v_#1(e2, x3, x2; x4) day:n_#1(x4) Logic forms are used in some natural language processing techniques, such as question answering, as well as in inference both for database systems and QA systems.
How to Choose an AI Marketing Tool
Curious about the best AI marketing tool? An AI marketing tool is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it combines speed, accuracy, and an interface that just works. Hands-on testing shows real-world results vary, so a short free trial is the smartest way to decide. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI marketing tool slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. This guide breaks down the top picks, their pros and cons, and who each one is best for.