Thomas,
As the resident Forte expert, what is you take on the latest news from Sun? I hope this spurs greater acceptance (and purchases) of Forte's higher end java tools.
The press release states, "With more than 200,000 downloads to date, Forte for Java, Community Edition has gained strong adoption among the Java development community
participating in the rapid enhancement of this core IDE technology through early access programs." Does this mean the code has been available for a while prior today?
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Sun Microsystems Announces Plans to Release
Cross-Platform Java(TM) Development Tool Code to Open
Source Community
Forte(TM) for Java(TM), Community Edition Source to Form Foundation
for Java Technology-Based Open Tools Framework Initiative
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW)
today announced its plans to release the source code for Forte(TM) for Java(TM), Community
Edition 1.0, its cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) for Java technology.
This product will be made available under the Mozilla public licensing model, which is
recognized by the open source community as practical and compliant with the Open Source
Definition.
This announcement underscores Sun's commitment to open source technologies, and marks the
first step in a major new Sun initiative to make Java tools and components available more
broadly to drive innovation.
"In a dot-com economy, the developer rules," said Patricia C. Sueltz, president of Software
Products and Platforms at Sun Microsystems. "Developers have the power to deliver on two
major requirements that determine success in a Web-based world: time to market and business
differentiation. Our open tools framework will enable developers to attain new levels of
productivity and reliability for dot-com development."
Forte for Java, Community Edition 1.0 is the entry-level product in Sun's Forte for Java product
line of Java technology IDEs. The binary code for this product, available at no charge for
download through Sun Microsystems, is slated for release by end of month. The source code is
targeted to be made available within the next 90 days.
"I applaud Sun's expanding support of the open source movement," said Brian Behlendorf,
president of The Apache Software Foundation. "This initiative will make a new generation of
development tools and components available to the Java developer community, addressing a
huge gap in the market."
"This is encouraging," said Eric Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative. "I'm happy to
see Sun exploring a true open source license."
Today's announcement is the next step in Sun's evolving dot-com development and integration
strategy. Forte for Java, Community Edition will form the foundation of Sun's new Java
technology-based open tools framework. This framework will support the entire development
lifecycle, improve reliability through re-use, eliminate vendor lock-in and dramatically cut costs
and time to market.
Based on this open tools framework, Sun, other vendors and the development community at
large can collaborate to develop a complete set of interoperable Java components to accelerate
the development of dot-com systems. Access to source code provides individual developers,
independent software vendors (ISVs) and application providers a new level of control and
confidence. It helps ensure that their software will remain open and interoperable with other
technologies.
The Forte for Java, Community Edition source code release creates an open community of
developers and ISVs to enhance Java technology development tools based on open standards.
The Forte for Java, Community Edition source code will also provide the development
community with complete access to a core application programming interface (API) from which
to develop plug-in modules to enhance the open tools framework.
The Forte for Java, Community Edition 1.0 binary product offers an integrated, extensible,
cross-platform development environment for the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition. This fully
modular development environment delivers integrated visual design, editing, compilation and
debugging capabilities for development on Solaris(TM) operating environment, Linux and
Microsoft Windows platforms. With more than 200,000 downloads to date, Forte for Java,
Community Edition has gained strong adoption among the Java development community
participating in the rapid enhancement of this core IDE technology through early access
programs. Forte for Java, Community Edition binary product is available at no charge for
download through Sun Microsystems, sun.com .
For more information related to Sun's Java technology-based open tools framework initiative,
please visit: sun.com .
About the Forte for Java Product Line
With the Forte for Java product family, Sun delivers a complete set of development and
integration tools for creating dot-com applications, from the simplest to the most complex. Users
can begin at any of three entry points, and move up to a more powerful version of the IDE as
their needs evolve. Forte for Java, Community Edition provides business developers and
individuals with a free, extensible productivity tool. Other products in the Forte for Java
product line, scheduled for release later this year, include Forte for Java, Internet Edition and
Forte for Java, Enterprise Edition. Forte for Java, Internet Edition is for professional
developers creating Web-enabled applications in support of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise
Edition. Forte for Java, Enterprise Edition is for corporate developers and independent
software vendors (ISVs) building and deploying robust, distributed applications on multiple
Web and application servers. For more information on the Forte for Java product line, please
visit: sun.com . |
