[text of the open letter in full]
An Open Letter to Eclipse Membership
January 30, 2004
Sun would like to congratulate the Eclipse organization on the eve of the transition to independence. This move proves again that the Java[tm] technology ecosystem is capable of spawning new value and continued technical diversity.
Given this noteworthy accomplishment, and the recent creation of javatools.org, Sun would like to reflect on what we hope the future has in store for Java technology-based tools and the enduring Java platform.
What we have in common: the Big Picture.
First and foremost, the main goal for all of us in the Java development community is to achieve the strongest possible technology and market position for the Java platform. The Big Picture is a Java technology solution that ensures no "lock in" to a given platform, one that generates competitive markets and technologies, and one based on standards. That way developers, deployers and consumers continue to have choice and benefit from technological diversity.
Thanks is due to Eclipse for joining Sun in genuinely exploring options.
Since July 2003, Sun and Eclipse have held many candid conversations and explored various options to join, merge and otherwise combine forces. In the course of these discussions we were able to set aside differences of technical opinion to pursue our common goal -- the Big Picture.
All those involved in the meetings would agree that the sticking points in the discussion were not so much technical in nature as they were business-related. Sun bases all of its commercial tools products on the NetBeans[tm] open source IDE. The required mandatory transition to the Eclipse platform would inhibit development of innovative technologies like the Sun Java Studio Creator product (code-named Project Rave), and require a reconstruction of all of our existing tools. Any entry criteria requiring that Sun abandon the NetBeans open source platform directly conflicts with the concept of choice and diversity, the very bases that gave Eclipse its beginning. If this condition were to change, we would be happy to reconsider. In the meantime, it is worthwhile to explore how we (and others) can work with Eclipse to align in a way that benefits the strength of the Java platform as a whole, especially with the multi-partner javatools.org community recently announced.
We hope in the near future to find a solution that benefits both the Eclipse and NetBeans communities -- in very visible, open ways -- where Sun can be an open contributor to Eclipse, and Eclipse can do the same for the NetBeans platform. In that manner, technology and IP can flow more freely so that both communities benefit. This tight alignment ensures that the Java platform wins.
Choice does not mean fragmentation!
Competition and technical diversity are not equivalent to fragmentation, as some would define it. In the process of your achievement, you've shown that competition and diversity have in fact helped win over more developers and software vendors to the Java platform, and further demonstrated its staying power and value. Technical diversity is always beneficial when it's aligned with accepted standards. And, regarding alternative GUI technologies, Sun is even working to ensure effective standards-based interoperability there as well.
