04 December 2007

What Does This Mean for NetBeans?

NetBeans has always been something of a mystery to me. I'd always regarded it as the runner-up IDE for Java, after Eclipse. But it's clear that I'm behind the times:

Netbeans 6.1 will have plugin support for creating, editing, deploying to Apache HTTPD, running and even debugging PHP projects.

And according to the NetBeans site:

You get all the tools you need to create professional desktop, enterprise, web and mobile applications, in Java, C/C++ and even Ruby.

Add in PHP, and that's increasingly impressive, but it does beg the question: Do we really need another all-purpose IDE alongside Eclipse? Doesn't that just dissipate the effort? Answers on the back of a postcard. (Via Tim Bray.)

2 comments:

Deepak said...

Not necessarily, but as long as there is enough demand and usage that the product needs to improve suggests that there is room for two. Now if Sun is keeping Netbeans alive just because they can't stand IBM's baby having all the fun that's a different thing.

Glyn Moody said...

I suppose the key thing is whether there really is enough community, as opposed to vendor support; we shall see.