2007-05-15

The next major Eclipse technology

The Eclipse Universe includes a very large number of tools and technologies. This is - in one sense - one of the best testaments to the success of the platform. But it is also one of the most infuriating aspects of the platform, when you make a living as a Eclipse service provider.

As an Eclipse service provider, you are always expected to know more about the different Eclipse technologies than what you customers know. And you are expected to be able to give advise about which technologies your customers can/should/could use to solve specific problems.

If you provide training based on the Eclipse platform, some things are obvious. You must have training in RCP as this is the basis of everything else. And we have seen GEF and EMF both being used in many very diverse projects - both are now part of the must-know technologies of the Eclipse Universe and consequently you must have training for these technologies.

But then it becomes much more difficult. Which technology or technologies are next in line?

BIRT? Business Intelligence is a very hot term, and BIRT does support some very basic abilities in this regard, so...?

GMF? Being a combination of EMF and GEF, GMF seems a logical candidate.

Or is it EMFT, M2T, TPTP, ECF, RAP, Higgins or something else?

One can argue for any of these as the next hot technology. It is so difficult to figure out, which Eclipse technology that will be the next important thing, that we must have training for.

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