Open-source Java and Eclipse

Now that Java is open-source, will Eclipse take over?

If you’re wondering how I made that leap, let me explain. Do you know why Sun never joined the Eclipse Foundation, and instead chose to spend time, money, and resources building up NetBeans to catch up to it? It’s because the one who controls the Java developer community (through tools) controls Java. Up until now, while Eclipse indeed has had the momentum, Sun has had the advantage of controlling each release of Java.

Now, with the Java GPL license, that’s all changed. If Eclipse wants to extend its lead, and truly control the Java community, it should take Java and bundle its own version along with Eclipse. Over time, the Eclipse Foundation can make its own changes to Java to suit the Eclipse community’s needs. If it does this, Eclipse will own the Java community, and then truly control the future of Java.

What about NetBeans?

Sun will continue to control the releases of Java for at least the next two releases. With recent releases, Sun has done a good job of integrating NetBeans with the Java packages, both SE and EE. Combine this with the improvements Sun has made to its NetBeans Mobility Pack for Java ME-based devices and NetBeans promises to grow its market-share of the Java developer community. There’s a real show-down coming up in the near future between Eclipse and NetBeans.

This raises an interesting question. What other communities have the potential to rise up through the bundling of open-source Java with other related technologies? Could IBM or BEA attempt the same thing with their products’ communities? Perhaps the future of Java will be similar to present-day Linux, with communities built around custom distributions that add their own value to Java (such as IDEs, application servers, and so on). Is this good or bad? Let me know what you think.

-EJB

Posted by Eric Bruno at 10:21 PM  Permalink