IBM plans to announce next month the second version of the Eclipse
development platform that it donated to the open source community
last year.
The new version, a beta version of which was released on 28 June,
will feature support for the latest Java Development Kit from Sun
Microsystems and the JavaDoc specification for generating code
documentation, according to Bernie Spang, director of Websphere
Studio marketing at IBM.
Other new features include improved support for software management
and version control products, such as those from Computer
Associates International, Merant and Rational Software.
However the new features are less important than the fact that
Eclipse is continuing to evolve and gain momentum, analysts said.
"IBM's ultimate goal is to establish Eclipse as the second viable
competitor to [Microsoft's] Visual Studio," Mark Driver, an analyst
at Gartner, said.
Driver said Eclipse is unlikely to get support from major vendors
such as Oracle or BEA Systems for competitive reasons. Instead, the
platform is gaining favour among many small vendors "who have
nothing to lose," he said.
From a user standpoint, a key benefit of Eclipse is the ability to
work from a single interface with a wide range of tools made by the
vendors who have elected to plug their products into the platform.