The Pillars of Eclipse

Source: SD Times

Summary:
In the past four years Eclipse has enjoyed considerable success in the software industry. Most famous for its widely used open-source Java IDE, Eclipse also has become an important platform for building software development tools and general purpose applications. In fact, there are now more than 58 different open-source projects at Eclipse, and most of these have little to do with building Java development tools.

We also have a growing ecosystem of vendors and other open-source projects creating Eclipse-based products that span many different technology markets. Therefore, the answers to the questions “What is Eclipse?” and “Where is Eclipse going?” often depend on your point of view.

When we think of Eclipse, we often think of different user communities or technology groupings. Right now, we think of seven different pillars as a metaphor to explain the breadth and wealth of technology brought to developers by the Eclipse community. Over time we expect that these pillars will evolve and change.