Eclipse.org Announces: "Eclipse!! Eclipse!!"

10 March 2005, 15:43 GMT

Eclipse Is it a platform? Or is it an IDE? Whatever. There's no doubt that the open-source Eclipse platform/IDE/penknife is going from strength to strength, and winning all sorts of media attention through a steady stream of similar press releases.

An eclipse is always big news.

"SWT, Eclipse, Farmyards."

Even blog postings from people mildly interested in Eclipse are making front-page headlines. And the Eclipse Consortium doesn't even need to include anything particularly newsworthy in its press releases to grab attention.

Their most recent press release is no exception. Titled simply: "Eclipse!! Eclipse!!", the Consortium has announced that Eclipse simply is, and will be. The press release goes on to sing the praises of Eclipse, and concludes: "So come hither and sing with us, for Eclipse is here, hurrah!"

"This is nothing new," responded NetBeans advocate Jim Grokker. "We've been singing the praises of NetBeans for years now, just not quite as loudly."

The latest Eclipse press release follows hot on the heels of over 10 different blog postings (each, oddly enough, titled: "SWT!! SWT!!"), all of which made front-page news on Javalobby, TheServerSide and Slashdot.

"Nice product, shame about the hysteria."

When asked what he likes so much about the open-source IDE, a prolific blogger, frothing visibly at the mouth, burbled: "Eclipse... Eclipshe... Ecleeepshe..." He declined to comment further.

There's no doubt that Eclipse is a nice IDE to use and is used lovingly by many devoted and happy programmers every day. But, we wonder, does that really justify the amount of hype and ra-ra that's been surrounding it in recent weeks?

"Eclipse is like this big unstoppable giant," said heavily bearded Emacs user Wilf Grinned. "But you can hear Eclipse coming a mile off because of all the noise being made by the frothy-mouthed blogger boys scammpering around its heels."

Blogs have also been rife with speculation that Eclipse might be the next open-source OS to rival GNU/Linux; and that it must be the perfect server-side application framework; and even that all competitors must simply throw in the towel and offer their arses to the Eclipse Consortium, if they know what's good for them. One might be forgiven for thinking that somebody somewhere is tugging the webloggers' strings to perfection.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article don't necessarily reflect those of the publisher or the author.

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Eclipse saved our company
Dick Bush dckbsh@yahoo.com

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Eclipse saved our company
Our team used Eclipse to deliver solutions to all of our requirements without ever defining them. Now we can confidently say "Problem solved!" BEFORE we hear the story. That's piece of mind you can't buy.
Dick Bush dckbsh@yahoo.com
90210, California
Mon Mar 21 21:59:36 GMT 2005

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