Sun, BEA and Microsoft Say "No"
In conjunction with its refusal of an Eclipse stewardship, Sun unveiled two new versions of NetBeans last December. NetBeans 3.6, due out in the first quarter of 2004, will feature a new user interface, along with "code folders" for easier code navigation, according to Sun. NetBeans 4.0, expected in the second half of 2004, will come with automated refactoring support for better code maintenance.
Also, a number of Sun's ISV partners (members of the "netbeans.org open source community") have announced their support for the NetBeans roadmap: Compuware, Quest, and Systinet, for instance.
Like Sun, BEA still remains outside the Eclipse community. So, too, does Microsoft, despite the use of Windows as one of the Eclipse platforms. Yet both of these competitors are welcome to join Eclipse, as well, according to IBM's Erickson.