Microsoft contributing to Eclipse

It has been announced that Microsoft will collaborate with the Eclipse foundation to make it easier for Java developers to create native Windows applications.

Microsoft will begin collaborating with the Eclipse Foundation to improve native Windows application development on Java.

Sam Ramji, the director of Microsoft's open-source software lab, announced at the EclipseCon conference in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday that the lab will work with Eclipse .

A little history. No other programming language offers so many free high-quality IDEs than Java. There are so many good choices that its not only hard to decide which one to install and use, but which one to keep using in the long run. The two most well known IDEs are Eclipse and Netbeans and with every new release, features only get better as the two try to outdo one another.

Although each tool is available as open source software, Sun Microsystems takes care of Netbeans and Eclipse is an IBM project. As with all IDEs both can do all the basic functionality such as code coloring, auto completion, etc., but Netbeans tends to be known for its great visual editor and Eclipse for its excellent code editor and refactoring capabilities.

Eclipse and Netbeans possess loyal followings of users that often engage in heated discussions across the internet defending their respective camps. Another key player in the java IDE arena is IntelliJ IDEA, which is not free but it is known for its excellent set of productivity features. Many of which have been incorporated in Netbeans and Eclipse.

Personally, I have always preferred Eclipse because it has a much bigger ecosystem. Namely, many other companies support and make it the foundation for their products. For example Borland and IBM. It also enjoys a large amount of plug-ins written for it.

Now with the announcement that Microsoft is planning to support Eclipse there is one more reason to stick with Eclipse for the time being. However, this makes me wonder if the cross-platform strength of Java will be affected by having better Windows support with the Eclipse platform.

Microsoft to work with Eclipse - CNet Blog