Skip McGaughey, chairperson of the Eclipse board of stewards, believes integration will take place at a deep level between Java rival’s IDEs, code and artefacts if vendors continue using official community standards.
McGaughey, speaking the day after Sun declared it would not accept Eclipse’s invitation to join, voiced optimism saying integration is desired, and would be driven, by engineers, developers and end-users.
Fears of a fragmented Java tools market re-surfaced this week with Sun’s decision not to join Eclipse. Sun is instead backing the NetBeans open source Java tools framework, the basis for the company’s Studio Java tools suite and vendors like Compuware Corp.
Sun, along with many other Java ISVs, uses the Java Swing interface technology in their tools, while the IBM Corp-backed Eclipse has adopted the Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT).
Various industry initiatives are currently underway to achieve interoperability between rival Java IDEs, and between Eclipse and non-Eclipse IDEs. These include JSR 198 for plug-ins, working its way through the Java Community Process (JCP).
McGaughey said, though, integration can occur at levels deeper than JSR 198, adding individuals representing Sun already work through Eclipse.
Because Sun didn’t join Eclipse doesn’t mean we can’t collaborate. We implement lots of JSRs, discuss technology, and lots of the same people who sit on the JCP are on the Eclipse board.
He added, though, Sun would have been an important member because it plays an important part in the JCP and an open invitation would remain on the table.
Invitations to join Eclipse also remain outstanding to BEA Systems Inc and also Microsoft Corp.
This article is based on material originally produced by ComputerWire.
