Why Eclipse?

IBM spent $40 million on the development of Eclipse and then donated it to the open-source community in 2001. Since then, it has become the most popular Java Software Development Kit (SDK). The Eclipse project continues as a well-funded and stable project that is actively refining the Eclipse platform. Historically and currently, Eclipse has had the advantage of substantial financial and intellectual resources, resulting in it's being a very sophisticated Java API. However, the advantages go beyond this. Java applications have been criticized for their performance and for having a look-and-feel that is not entirely consistent with the underlying operating system. The Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT), available with Eclipse, is a major step towards addressing these concerns.