REALbasic 5.5 is shipping from REAL Software, and the new version of development environment adds the ability to build Linux applications from Mac and Windows systems, as well as other features of particular interest to Mac OS X users. “Even if Mac users have never had any experience with programming before, they can learn REALbasic and create useful applications to improve their productivity,” Geoff Perlman, president and CEO of REAL Software, told MacMinute. “Those applications can integrate with their existing software because we support AppleEvents and AppleScript. And with version 5.5, we also have direct, native support for things like the Address Book and Microsoft Office.”