News
Eclipse to fund university research
- By Michael W. Bucken
- August 21, 2002
The Eclipse consortium moved this week to expand on
earlier IBM efforts with the creation of the Eclipse Technology Project,
described by the group as an open-source project that supports research,
education and engineering initiatives undertaken to integrate multiple computing technologies using
the so-called Eclipse Platform.
IBM had earlier moved to spread the Eclipse tool
integration platform into university computer labs by pledging funds to provide
equipment and expertise for projects that utilize the open source technologies.
The Eclipse consortium was created late last year by officials from Borland,
IBM, Merant, QNX Software Systems, Rational Software, RedHat, SuSE, TogetherSoft
and WebGain. The group currently claims support from about 150
software suppliers.
''Eclipse is expanding its focus to include
forward-looking research into areas important to software developers,'' said
IBM’s Skip McGaughey, chairman
of the Eclipse Board of Stewards.
To date, officials said, Eclipse Fellowships will fund
research projects at Oregon Health and Science University, University of Aarhus
in Denmark, Queensland University of Technology and Monash University in
Australia, Carleton University in Ottawa, the University of British Columbia,
the University of Washington, Northeastern University and Ecoles des Mines de
Nantes in France.
Dwight Deugo, associate computer science professor at
Carleton University, Ottawa, will oversee the effort at his school. ''It is
common for developers to think of a software development tool as an environment
that enables them to write code, such as Java class files, and share it through
a shared repository,'' said Deugo, also a columnist for Application Development
Trends magazine. ''While this is possible with the open-source Eclipse platform,
the plug-in based framework will enable developers to expand on the notion of
development tools. Eclipse is the platform for any
and every software tool.''
For details of the activities of the Eclipse Technology
Project, including active sub-projects, click on http://www.eclipse.org/org/index.html.
University departments, researchers and universities
interested in Eclipse Fellowships should contact the Eclipse Technology Project
Management Committee through the guidelines posted at http://www.eclipse.org/technology/index.html.
About the Author
Mike Bucken is former Editor-in-Chief of Application Development Trends magazine.