// NetBeans 7.0 with better desktop integration planed
Note: This entry has been posted on 1. April 2008 and nothing of that below is true :-)
You probably already know a lot of changes are planed for the NetBeans 7.0 release.
One of the bigger changes is tighter integration to the Windows Presentation Foundation for the SWT/JFace rewrite of NetBeans 7.0 similar tho the Eclipse roadmap. The minimum system requirement will rise to windows vista ultimate with a DirectX 10 capable graphics card and a USB stick plugged into your system (swap file for java quickstarter) to render NetBeans 7 in full HD. The primary reason for that was the out of the box Java 6 incompatibility to apple systems (who knows maybe it is compatible with MacOS X but no one will tell you because if he tried installing SE 6 on macs he/she also signed an NDA...) and the issue that many architects simple do not understand the internals of linux distributions (e.g Ubuntu) to install NetBeans.
On older cards or other operating systems JEdit will be started in compatibility mode (motif look&feel and full shell support). The reason for that are the new consumer guidelines and download size limitations of the java 6 Update 10 release. (there is a because of backwards compatibility problems [to build 11] not fixable ArrayIndexOutOfBounds bug in the pack200 implementation - primary reason why the swing renderer does not fit into the NB 7 distribution anymore if started with Java 6 update 10).
This brings several advantages. E.g instead of playing Jake in the browser (update 10 required) NetBeans 7.0 will be capable to render Halo 3 in the editor pane (with full profiler integration and 16x FSAA text overlay). Regular patches will be available via update center.
Additionally to that better joystick support is planed. This should improve the navigation through larger projects and replace the "go to declaration" action. You may also activate the force feedback option in the new "user experience" tab in the options dialog to detect the files which causes unit tests to fail. (Note: not available in JEdit compatibility mode but there will be a blinking icon instead)
The higher costs to develop NetBeans 7.0 make a complete free distribution not feasible but it will be still free for opensource developers (but not without limitations e.g UML diagrams will be limited to only two kind of widgets "hack" and "ship" while maintaining 100% SSP compatibility).
Hah, you don't catch us out that easily.
Hang on, what time zone are you in? It is April 1st there, right?
Posted by Andy Stevens on April 01, 2008 at 05:10 PM CEST #
Reading this post mor carefully and checking the date made me realize this was an April fools tale
nice try :P
Posted by laurent Morissette on April 01, 2008 at 07:14 PM CEST #
"...render NetBeans 7 in full HD."
What? Why would I need to do this?
"...capable to render Halo 3 in the editor pane..."
Are they planning on appealing to game developers? Because that is what this sounds like. Is this where we are going with NetBeans 7?
For my general java/web development use, I can't see the need to render Halo3 in the editor pane. Nor would I need to render in HD.
But, if I were a game developer, I could understand that requirement. I could also understand wanting to charge a fee for that type of development (3D game development). But, if there are also going to be system requirements on NetBeans 7 for me to use Windows Vista, I will probably not be using NetBeans 7. And that will be a shame.
Can anyone clarify?
Posted by Jason Kilgrow on April 01, 2008 at 08:22 PM CEST #
I love it when people don't get the April Fool joke :)
Posted by Adrian on April 01, 2008 at 09:21 PM CEST #
I think it would be better to make the minimum requirements for graphics to a dual SLI graphics adapter just to make sure that Halo 3 would run.
Maybe a minimum quad core CPU just to make sure.
What do you think! ;-)
Posted by kihbord on April 02, 2008 at 02:49 AM CEST #
But why not require 2 monitors, so everyone can view their Java source on one screen, and their applications on the other.
Thanks in advance,
Magnus
Posted by Magnus on April 02, 2008 at 03:40 AM CEST #
As for a quad core requirement, I agree, but it should be a requirement not only for developing applications, but for running them too --- because then all Java apps would run really fast.
Posted by Magnus on April 02, 2008 at 03:46 AM CEST #
Hoo boy....do I feel dumb.
Good one. I totally fell for that. :)
Posted by Jason Kilgrow on April 02, 2008 at 08:58 AM CEST #
*rofl* definitely a good one for this year's april :-D
Why not re-create NetBeans based on the Eclipse platform?
- mathias
Posted by Mathias on April 02, 2008 at 04:10 PM CEST #
As I finsihed reading this blog entry I was thinking: Normally I understand what adams says in his blog but wtf does he want to say with this one ... hm ... maybe I should post a comment and ask if he has been drunk, but then I saw the other comments and realized you got me ;-)
anyway, good one
markus
Posted by Markus on April 02, 2008 at 04:28 PM CEST #
Markus,
the main reason is probably that I'm not adam, I'm his brother michael ;-) the URL problem will be fixed in the next roller release.
@all,
I still can't believe that so many thought this entry was true - really cool :-)
Posted by Michael Bien on April 02, 2008 at 07:41 PM CEST #