The Impact of Callisto
It's now been nearly a month since Callisto released, and one of the loudest cacophonies in open-source history has been followed by a deafening silence. The build-up to Callisto was raucous and overwhelming as announcements, editorials, and technical coverage streamed out of every technical orifice of the internet. A major coordination feat was achieved as the ten disparate teams of developers from several companies all over the world coordinated their products under this massive umbrella, and released them to the world on June 30th.
Since then, well over hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of developers have downloaded Eclipse, and given the Callisto instructions slathered all over Eclipse.org, it seems likely that a good majority of those folks have also used the Callisto update system to get the features they want and need. For the community, Callisto has really represented an unbelievable barrage of features. Just the other day, I was working on an RCP application, and it was the first time I had really actually used the visual editor. I had given it cursory evaluations before, and I had watched screencasts and helped report the all of the news there was about VE; but this really represented the first time I actually tried to integrate development with VE into development of my application, and actually learn the 'ins and outs' of using it as part of the development cycle. In short, I was honestly floored by how much easier it made my GUI development, how easy it was to integrate VE code into my code, and finally, just how polished and capable it actually is.
I'm sure several people reading this are saying 'well duh!'; I know that a lot of the true strengths of the visual editor have been there for some time, and aren't unique to the Callisto version. For me, Callisto was just the final linchpin; finally making it just simple enough to convince me to spend more of my time with the visual editor.
That's the impact of Callisto to me; it convinced me to explore what else Eclipse has to offer, and I have found some intriguing software. From that standpoint, I have no doubt that Callisto was successful. What has surprised me, however, is the quietness in the community now that Callisto is here. There has been a decided lack of coverage and conversation of the latest Eclipse release now that it is released to the wild. By my estimation, this many open source releases all at once should have a significant impact on the plethora of Java developers who use Eclipse products.
So, where are the posts of exclamation? Where are the proclamations of ecstasy? Just perhaps this is the moment, just like when eating a delectable meal, when everyone is without a voice for some time as they silently consume the feast before them. Another possibility is that the rolling of the release train was just so loud, that the voices of excitement seem small in comparison. Then again, just maybe, it could be that there is a disinterest in the field, and Callisto was more hype than reality. I can say without a doubt that for me it was not just hype - but what about you? What's your take on this radio silence?
On a lighter note, the EclipseZone podcast interviews are going extremely well, and we're about ready to release Episodes 7 and 8; interviews with with the BIRT and DTP teams. I've had a sneak preview of these two podcasts, and they are very interesting and enjoyable interviews. Keep your eye open for them on the EclipseZone homepage.
Until Next Time,
R.J. Lorimer
rj@javalobby.org
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