SF/JavaOne, Day 2, Eclipse

Interesting talk.  Starts with a chat about what exactly Eclipse
is.  From the talk it's pretty clear that Eclipse is not viewed as
just a tool to help developers create sofware with.  Instead it's
intended to be a general platform and framework for applications (vague
i know, but it kinda makes sense).  The initial goals are to be an
open platform that is language neutral.  So while Java is the #1
supported language on the platform, they intend for the entire platform
to encompass every other language as a fully supported entity.  Of
course, some of us know about CDT, but i'm sure there are a lot that
have never even heard of it.  Along with that, it's intedended to
be a system that is built entirely from plugins (like emacs). 
Instead of being an IDE that has a few extension points, it's a
platform where pretty much everything is a plugin with extension
points.

The core Eclipse ecosystem ("stack") seems incredibly rich.  At
it's core it's veyr well designed for integrating plugins and keeping
them up to date.  This core infrastructure allows pretty much
everything else ot be built on top of that.  Then on top of that
is just a core component model for dealing with the shell, and finally
on top of the individual plugins that supply support for thigns like
Java, C++, Testing Tools, Project Managesment, Web Stuff, etc. etc.
etc.  It seems incredibly powerful, and quite useful for people in
niche applications who need to provide specialized support for the
space that they're in.

They're also very driven by the community.  The community hacked
up the 2.0 platform a lot to make it a general application platform
instead of just a Java IDE.  The developers saw this and said:
"hey!  that's a great idea.  We should incorporate that into
our core deliverables".  And, after that, voila: you've got
Eclipse 3.0.

Ok.  They're drilling down deep into the whole platform. 
It's too much to all write down and i really want to pay attention to
all of this :-)