Eclips e: A Prem ier
Open S ource Com m unity
Th e tipping point w as Ecl
ipse Con 2005
w h e n BEA, Borl
and, CA, Syb ase and W ind
R ive r al
l
joine d th e b oard of dire ctors as
strate gic de ve l
ope r m e m b e rs.
D ive rsity
Th e h e al
th and vital
ity of th e Ecl
ipse
ope n sou rce proje cts is ab sol
u te l
y k e y. Al
-
th ou gh Ecl
ipse is in m any w ays a trade as-
sociation or consortiu m , th e ope n sou rce
proje cts are th e sou rce of val
u e cre ation
in th e Ecl
ipse e cosyste m . Th e pe rfe ct
sce nario is w h e re w e se e a virtu ou s cycl
e
of grow th and inve stm e nt b e tw e e n th e
proje cts and th e com m e rcial
e cosyste m .
As com panie s captu re val
u e by cre ating
produ cts b ase d on th e Ecl
ipse pl
atform ,
th e y find opportu nitie s w h e re it is in th e ir
com m e rcial
inte re st to contrib u te b ack to
th e Ecl
ipse te ch nol
ogy. W e 've ce rtainl
y
se e n a l
arge grow th in th e nu m b e r of or-
ganiz ations contrib u ting code , proje cts
and com m itte rs at Ecl
ipse .
Grow ing th e e cosyste m w as and is an im -
portant goal
. O u r m e m b e rsh ip h as grow n
to ove r 160 com panie s. Grow th in m e m -
b e rsh ip is an indicator of th e h e al
th of
th e ove ral
l
e cosyste m . Bu t prob ab l
y e ve n
m ore im portant is th e h u ge nu m b e r of
produ cts now b u il
t on top of Ecl
ipse , w ith
m ore com ing al
l
th e tim e . No singl
e or-
ganiz ation can control
th e de stiny of th e
Ecl
ipse Ecosyste m as a w h ol
e .
Com m on Te ch nical
Arch ite ctu re
Eu ropa is th e cu rre nt de l
ive rab l
e al
ong
th e vision of Ecl
ipse b e com ing th e ope n
de ve l
opm e nt pl
atform . It is ab ou t Ecl
ipse
continu ing on th e com m u nity- l
e d e vol
u -
tion th at it h as b e e n on for th e past se ve r-
al
ye ars. Eu ropa's im portance is, in m any
w ays, l
ink e d to th e e m e rge nce of Ecl
ipse
as an appl
ication inte gration pl
atform
w h ich spans se rve rs and de vice s. It's not
ju st th e cl
ie nt any l
onge r.
Th is is not a sm al
l
th ing. Ecl
ipse is one of
th e ve ry fe w organiz ations w h ich is
atte m pting to de ve l
op a standards- b ase d
de ve l
opm e nt pl
atform of tool
s, ru ntim e s
and fram e w ork s w h ich span de vice s,
cl
ie nts and se rve rs. Al
l
of w h ich is b ase d
on a singl
e com pone nt arch ite ctu re and
program m ing m ode l
.
And once again, it is th e com m u nity th at
is driving th e e vol
u tion. Ju st as a fe w
ye ars ago w h e n pe opl
e notice d th e y
cou l
d
cre ate
th e ir
ow n
de sk top
appl
ications and drove th e cre ation of
RCP, de ve l
ope rs are now noticing th e
opportu nitie s in ru nning th e Ecl
ipse pl
u g
in m ode l
, on or u nde r a se rve r.
So today Ecl
ipse is not ju st ab ou t tool
s or
e ve n Java. W h at ou r com m u nity is
b u il
ding is som e th ing w h ich is m u ch
m ore am b itiou s and inte re sting. And
w ith ne w proje cts incl
u ding pe rsiste nce
l
aye rs, se rvice - orie nte d ru ntim e s and
R ich Inte rne t Pl
atform s starting u p, th e
fu tu re l
ook s e ve n m ore inte re sting.
M e asu ring Progre ss
Siz e ve rsu s H e al
th
M e asu ring th e siz e of an Ecosyste m (l
ik e
nu m b e r of m e m b e rs) is im portant, b u t
th e Ecl
ipse Fou ndation is far m ore
inte re ste d in th e h e al
th of th e Ecl
ipse
Ecosyste m . In th e ir pape r
Strate gy as
Ecol
ogy
, Iansiti and Le vie n ide ntifie d
th re e k e y e l
e m e nts of e cosyste m h e al
th :
-- Produ ctivity of th e Ecosyte m : h ow
m u ch e conom ic val
u e is b e ing cre ate d
by th e e cosyste m
-- Rob u stne ss: h ow du rab l
e and ab l
e to
adapt th e e cosyste m is to e xte rnal
e ve nts
-- Nich e Cre ation: th e ab il
ity to e xpand
th e e cosyste m w ith m e aningfu l
dive rsity
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