The Setup
As many of you know, I use NetBeans. A lot. And, of course, I also use a variety of other Java-based IDE’s, like Oracle’s JDeveloper and the Eclipse platforms.
But I really like NetBeans because it, like JDeveloper, has that unified IDE feel that Eclipse doesn’t (I always feel like there’s something else I just have to have– if only I can figure out what it is, look it up in one of many repositories, log in, browse the catalogs, spot the components, download them into the IDE, wait for all the dependencies to resolve, update the IDE’s other components, scan again, download the last remaining bits ‘n pieces, and then wait for the IDE to restart… and maybe then go back out and download some more components or updates to the components I already have…).
But NetBeans is also differentiated from JDeveloper and other unified IDE’s because it doesn’t follow the old JBuilder project/workspace management behaviors.
And, additionally, NetBeans does not have the specter of that potential commercial license hovering over it, like JDeveloper does…
Larry, I’m telling you, if you make JDeveloper a completely commercial product again, I’m dropping it again! Your pricing model should be based upon your production deployment setups, like your databases, not the development tools or APIs or frameworks!
So I was pleasantly surprised when the new DVD bundling of NetBeans 6.5 was announced a couple of days ago.
The Premise
Traditionally, Sun and the NetBeans guys have released DVD’s of the current shipping version of NetBeans.
This time, the DVD image appears to be released instead, which obviously saves them quite a bit of disc burning and postage fees. And, for developers (and even development directors like Yours Truly), it makes it much more convenient to download the image, burn it, and start using it. And, even better, in the case of various advanced OS’ out there, you can directly mount the DVD image and install directly from it, without having to generate any physical media copies (except as a form of archival, ‘natch).
The Action
Go fetch your copy DVD image of the NetBeans 6.5 Starter Kit.
In addition to NetBeans 6.5 (the “main” form of the IDE), it also comes with:
- NetBeans IDE 6.5 for JavaFX 1.0
- GlassFish V2 UR2 application server
- GlassFish V3 (Prelude) application server
- Tomcat 6.0.18 container
- JDK 6 Update 11 (you may know this as JDK 1.6.0_11)
In the regular installer, you can have the GlassFish and Tomcat containers installed at the same time that the IDE is installed.
N.B.
Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):
