Eclipse-based tools provider Innoopract is shipping Yoxos, a $19.95 Eclipse 3.0 distribution that is equipped with popular plug-ins to ease the load on open-source developers.
The company is positioning Yoxos as a solution for developers who want to leverage open-source offerings but cannot spend weeks evaluating dozens of plug-ins to keep their environment up to date.
Yoxos spares developers from having to find, download and install plug-ins and manage versions of plug-ins, according to Innoopract. The goal of the product is to provide distribution services to manage and install custom development environments from a broad set of open-source offerings, according to Innoopract.
While acknowledging the Eclipse IDE itself is available as a free download, an Innoopract official stressed that the Yoxos package provides value-added functionality in terms of ease of use and time savings.
“You’re paying for the ease and convenience and the saving of time of gathering all these different plug-ins that you want,” said Eric von der Heyden, managing director of Innoopract. Yoxos extends the functionality of the Eclipse IDE, he said.
More than 30 pre-tested plug-ins are included, providing support for elements such as programming languages, databases, UI development, and modeling, von der Heyden said. Also featured are plug-ins for “managed scenarios,” which are bundled plug-ins for a specific task such as Web development.
The Yoxos plug-in installer enables users to choose specific plug-ins or bundles or create custom sets. With Yoxos, any code for extensions to the open source plug-ins will be donated back to the community.
Yoxos is available on CD or for download at www.yoxos.com
Paul Krill writes for Infoworld
