Google Considers Joining Eclipse

Source: eWeek

Summary:
Google is contemplating a move to join the Eclipse Foundation in some capacity.

Greg Stein, an engineering manager in the open-source group at Google and chairman of the Apache Software Foundation, told eWEEK that Google has considered joining Eclipse and has talked with Eclipse's executive director, Mike Milinkovich, about the possibility.

In an interview following his keynote address at the EclipseCon 2006 conference here March 22, Stein said of the search giant's possible move toward Eclipse: "We're thinking about it. We've been talking to Eclipse. I've had some conversations with Mike, and we're either going to join in some capacity or we're going to donate money. But either way we want to help Eclipse."

Should Google join, it would be another major software-as-a-service provider in the Eclipse fold, as Salesforce.com announced its membership in Eclipse earlier this week.

"We've had conversations with Google about them becoming a member," said Milinkovich.

"We would love to have them. There's been discussion of them contributing in some way, but I'm not sure whether they'll join or not."