One of the world’s most popular open source desktop development environments continues to evolve to support a new generation of developers
BRUSSELS – November 2, 2021 – The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world’s largest open source software foundations, together with the Eclipse IDE Working Group, today announced the 20th anniversary of the Eclipse Platform suite of products, related technologies, and ecosystem. Throughout that time, the Eclipse Platform has been instrumental in driving the adoption of open source, as well as serving as the core technology for building some of the most advanced applications in the world. From the Eclipse Java development tools, to NASA’s Mars Rover mission planning software, to massive semiconductors, and myriad other technologies that power our lives, the Eclipse Platform continues to support developers building new applications.
“As the project that gave our organization its name, it is with great pride that I’ve watched this platform evolve to meet the challenges of today,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “The wonderful community that has driven this evolution, as well as our new working group, continue to ensure the Eclipse IDE platform will meet the needs of developers for another 20 years.”
20 years after the Eclipse family of projects was first launched, the Eclipse Platform and ecosystem continue to be relied upon worldwide by developers and businesses to create commercially viable products in a variety of industry sectors. With millions of users, tens of millions of downloads annually, and billions of dollars in shared investment, the Eclipse IDE is one of the world’s most popular desktop development environments.
The Eclipse Foundation recently formed the Eclipse IDE Working Group to support this global community. This new working group provides governance, guidance, and funding for the communities that support the delivery and maintenance of the Eclipse IDE products. Founded by multiple participants, including Bosch, EclipseSource, IBM, Kichwa Coders, Renesas, SAP, VMware, and Yatta Solutions, this governance structure will enable broad collaboration to ensure the Eclipse IDE meets the latest market requirements. All consumers and adopters of Eclipse Platform technologies are highly encouraged to join and participate in this new working group.
The goal of the Eclipse IDE Working Group is to ensure the continued success, vibrancy, quality, and sustainability of the Eclipse Platform, desktop IDE, and underlying technologies. This effort includes support for planning and delivery processes, as well as the related delivery technology. If the Eclipse IDE is important to your organization’s development efforts, the new working group represents an opportunity to help shape the future of this critical platform. For more information, visit ide-wg.eclipse.org.
To learn more about how to get involved with the Eclipse IDE Working Group, visit the Eclipse Foundation membership page or see the working group’s Charter and Participation Agreement. Working group members benefit from a broad range of services, including exclusive access to detailed industry research findings, marketing assistance, and expert open source governance. Sponsorship is also welcomed as a way for companies that want to support the Eclipse IDE without joining the working group.
Quotes from Strategic Members
IBM
"20 years ago, when IBM contributed our Java development tools to a consortium of organizations which later on became the Eclipse Foundation, we hoped to create an open process that would excite developers to participate in the shaping and development of the tools they would use every day to create applications,” said Todd Moore, IBM’s VP of Open Technology. “At the time we hoped this would ignite the industry around Java, and the Eclipse Foundation did just that. Here's to 20 more successful years as Java moves into the cloud native world.”
Renesas Electronics
“Renesas’ embedded tools environment is built through the utilization of the groundbreaking Eclipse platform and the fully functional C/C++ Developers Toolkit (CDT),” said Akyiya Fukui, vice president, IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit, Software Development Division. “The open tools environment, the diverse partners and third party tools integration have quickly become the de facto IDE platform for embedded software for customers around the world. Renesas will continue to support the platform and work closely with the Foundation to ensure the projects build on this success.”
Robert Bosch GmbH
"We have been using the Eclipse platform for designing and developing solutions for Automotive and IoT use cases. One of the key success factors in software industry is a widely adopted open source platforms, which can be used to create not only developer ecosystems but also commercial solutions. Thanks to contributions from many developers in the Eclipse community, tools and standards are created on an open platform that many companies benefit from. As an Eclipse IDE Strategic group member, we are excited to contribute to the platform and help to keep it powerful for many more years to come," said Vadiraj Krishnamurthy, Head Technology & Innovation, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions.
SAP
“SAP has delivered development tools for SAP NetWeaver based on the Eclipse platform from its very beginning 20 years ago,” said Karl Kessler, vice president of Product Management ABAP Platform, SAP. “Developers have used the SAP tools to build successful applications for the SAP customer base and ecosystem that run more than 70% of the worldwide business transactions around the globe. SAP continues to invest into its tools portfolio, in particular the ABAP development tools (ADT) for Eclipse. ADT helps to build Cloud applications powered by SAP HANA that run on SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP S/4HANA. SAP Partners have used the tool plugins from SAP to deliver tailored tool extensions. SAP will continue to contribute to the Eclipse Foundation to enrich the value of the Eclipse Platform and community.”
Vector Informatik GmbH
"With PREEvision, we provide an Eclipse-based tool for the automotive industry to develop electronic systems (E/E) of modern vehicles. The Eclipse IDE builds a both solid and versatile basis for us to meet the demands of our customers for a model-based development platform and central E/E data backbone," says Georg Zimmermann, director for PREEvision. "We started our journey with Eclipse over 15 years ago and the fact that Vector still launches new Eclipse-based products like the DaVinci Developer Adaptive speaks for itself. As an Eclipse IDE Working Group member, we are excited to contribute to the platform and help to keep it powerful for the next 20 years."
Yatta Solutions GmbH
“To improve development, we need to enable developers. This includes providing them with the best possible tooling,” said Dr. Leif Geiger, product manager, Software Engineer and Co-Founder, Yatta Solutions. “Since the beginning, Eclipse has played a key role in my career. An IBM Eclipse innovation grant funded my research. And Yatta’s first product, UML Lab, is based on Eclipse. Over time, we have increased our commitment towards Eclipse: I became project lead of the Eclipse Marketplace Client open-source project, and I was recently elected Package Maintainer of the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers.”
Dr. Geiger continued, “I think that now more than ever, we need a vendor-neutral, open-source IDE for businesses and developers alike. By keeping this precious open ecosystem alive and kicking, we can remain independent. But to ensure the best possible future for Eclipse, the IDE needs to become more attractive for businesses and developers alike, and win developers as users and committers again. In the end, the Eclipse IDE is about collaboration among developers and across corporate borders. Let’s keep it that way. Here’s to another 20 years of the Eclipse IDE!”
About the Eclipse Foundation
The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organizations with a mature, scalable, and business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. The Foundation is home to the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, and over 400 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, distributed ledger technologies, open processor designs, and many others. The Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 330 members, including industry leaders who value open source as a key enabler for their business strategies. To learn more, follow us on Twitter @EclipseFdn, LinkedIn or visit eclipse.org.
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