Open Source Business Resource OSBR July 07 (Page 9)

Eclips e: A Prem ier

Open S ource Com m unity

Produ ctivity

It is im portant to b e cl

e ar w h at is m e ant

by produ ctivity h e re in th e conte xt of
m e asu ring h e al

ipse e cosyste m to cre -

ate e conom ic val

u e , not th e individu al

produ ctivity of de ve l

ope rs. If a fram e -

w ork or tool

is ge ne rating e conom ic activ-

ity, th e n w e w ou l

d e xpe ct to se e m ore

and m ore organiz ations se e k ing to pay
e m pl

oye e s for th ose sk il

s. M ore ove r, w e

w ou l

d al

so e xpe ct to se e an incre asing

nu m b e r of produ cts b ase d on th e Ecl

ipse

atform .

M e asu ring th is pre cise l

y cou l

d b e e x-

tre m e l

y tim e consu m ing, b u t l

u ck il

th e re are som e tool

s th at h e l

p spot tre nds

su ch as

Inde e d's job l

isting arch ive s

and

Googl

e 's Ne w s Arch ive s

R ob u stne ss

O ve r th e ye ars th e Ecl

ipse com m u nity

h as de al

t w ith q u ite a fe w e xte rnal

e ve nts

drive n by ou r com pe titors. W h ich raise s
an inte re sting point: if Ecl

ipse is a fre e

and ope n com m u nity w ith a dive rse com -
m e rcial

e cosyste m , w h o are its com pe tit-

ors? Th is is a b it of a sim pl

ification, b u t it

re al

y b oil

s dow n to tw o: M icrosoft and

Su n.

M icrosoft Visu al

Stu dio w as th e produ ct

w h ich Ecl

ipse w as original

y cre ate d to

com pe te w ith . Bu t in m any w ays, th e
com pe tition h as m orph e d into co- ope ti-
tion, as m any de ve l

ope rs u se b oth Ec-

ipse and Visu al

Stu dio (VS). Th e re are a

ot of de ve l

ope rs w h o u se VS for th e ir

.NET de ve l

opm e nt and Ecl

ipse for Java

and e ve ryth ing e l

se . So th e re are actu al

inte re sting sce narios w h e re inte rope rab il

ity b e tw e e n Ecl

ipse and M icrosoft

produ cts m ak e s se nse .

Th e com pe tition w ith Su n's de ve l

ope r

produ cts is m ore dire ct, as in m any w ays
w e are com pe ting for th e sam e de -
ve l

ope r: Java program m e rs. D e spite th e

fact th at Ecl

ipse doe s so m u ch m ore th an

Java tool

s, th is re m ains ou r k e y franch ise ,

and com m e rcial

e cosyste m opportu nity.

Visu al

Stu dio and Ecl

ipse can com pl

e -

m e nt one anoth e r. In m ost case s, Ne t-
Be ans and Ecl

ipse are su b stitu te s. As a

re su l

t, th e onl

y m ajor organiz ation de dic-

ate d to com pe ting h e ad- to- h e ad w ith th e
Ecl

ipse com m u nity is Su n.

Bu t de spite l

arge inve stm e nts by Su n in

Ne tBe ans, th e m ark e t sh are and ou r
dow nl

oad nu m b e rs sh ow onl

y ste ady

grow th for Ecl

ipse . So cl

e arl

y th e rob u st-

ne ss of th e Ecl

ipse e cosyste m is ve ry h igh

and stil

grow ing.

Nich e Cre ation

Th e l

ast e l

e m e nt of e cosyste m h e al

th is

nich e cre ation, w h e re th e te ch nol

ogy is

rapidl

y adopte d in ne w te ch nol

ogy

nich e s. D on't ge t confu se d: "nich e " is not
a synonym for e ith e r "sm al

" or "insigni-

ficant". Th ink m ore al

ong th e l

ine s of

"ne w " and "cool

Again, Ecl

ipse rate s ve ry h igh l

y. Ecl

ipse as

a pl

atform h as e xce l

e d in e nab l

ing nich e

cre ation. Its adaptab il

ity h as drive n

grow th and su cce ss in m any ne w te ch no-
l

ogy nich e s as q u ick l

y as th e y've b e e n cre -

ate d.

H e re are ju st a cou pl

e of re ce nt e xam pl

e s:

-- According to Linu x W atch , th e re is
cross- com m u nity inte re st in ral

ying

arou nd Ecl

ipse as th e tool

s pl

atform for

Linu x Standard Base (LSB) de ve l

op-

m e nt.

Open Source Business Resource - OSBR July 07 (Page 9)