Sun, together with the NetBeans community today announced the general availability of the Java based open-source NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) software tools via download at www.netbeans.org. NetBeans 5.0 IDE provides comprehensive support for building Java SE, Java EE, and Java ME applications and includes a variety of unique new features and significant enhancements such as NetBeans GUI Builder (formerly Project Matisse), that differentiates it from all other developer tools.

Other features of the release include: completely redesigned support for CVS; support for the Sun Java System AppServer 8.2; BEA WebLogic 9 and JBoss 4 application servers; Struts and Java Server Faces support and new types of re-factoring and editor enhancements that make writing code even easier than before.

"Project Matisse epitomizes the finest qualities of the Java desktop renaissance. No other tool I have tried makes it so easy to 'get it right' in the design of a Java GUI, and the code it generates is both clean and comprehensible," says Rick Ross, JavaLobby. "Don't waste your time doing layouts by hand, Matisse is the power tool you've needed all along."

"The NetBeans IDE is another example of the tremendous momentum Sun is experiencing with it open source initiatives," said Jeff Jackson, senior vice president of Java, Enterprise, and Developer platforms for Sun. "During the last 18 months the community has seen a tripling of active users of NetBeans -- and we expect that momentum to skyrocket with the launch of NetBeans 5."

Among the new features in NetBeans 5, easy to use tools for quickly extending the IDE or building a rich client application on the NetBeans Platform have already been adopted by a variety of leading industry technologies and companies. NetBeans 5.0 ensures the common look and feel of applications post-deployment across the following platforms which support Java SE: the Solaris 10 Operating System, OpenSolaris, Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Macintosh OS X.