src/content/community/articles/interviews/matt-thompson.html - netbeans-website-cleanup - Git at Google

 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
 <html><head><!--Copyright © 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.-->


   <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">


   <meta name="description" content="Matt Thompson, Senior Director of Sun's Developer Cloud Tools, discusses why NetBeans continues to matter for Sun, and offers a look ahead for the IDE.">


   <meta name="keywords" content="NetBeans, IDE, integrated development environment, cloud, cloud services">


   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../netbeans.css">


   <style type="text/css">
             <!--
             .callout {width:200px;float:left;color:gray;padding:0px 14px 10px 0px;line-height:110%;font-size:120%;font-weight:bold;}
             .photo {float:right;padding:10px 0px 10px 14px;}
             -->
         </style>
   <title>NetBeans IDE for the Cloud and Beyond: A Conversation with Matt Thompson</title>


 </head><body>


 <h1>NetBeans IDE for the Cloud and Beyond: A Conversation with Matt Thompson</h1>


 <span style="font-style: italic;">
 March 2009</span><br>


 <span style="font-style: italic;"><br>
 </span><img style="width: 207px; height: 259px;" alt="Matt Thompson" src="../../../images_www/articles/interviews/matt-thompson.jpg" align="right"><span style="font-style: italic;">In
 this interview, we speak with Matt Thompson, the Senior Director of
 Sun's Developer Cloud Tools, a group that includes NetBeans. Matt
 discusses the importance of the NetBeans IDE to Sun's emerging cloud
 space, and what the NetBeans community can expect as the IDE continues
 to evolve. And he has a message for developers who have yet to try
 NetBeans!<br>
 </span>
 <br>


 <h2>Matt, Welcome to the NetBeans Team! Please tell us about your background.</h2>


 I have been at Sun for 18 years total. I started out as an engineer for
 developer tools, working on C/C++, LISP and COBOL. I left for a few
 years to work for other companies, then returned to run Partner
 engineering for the Java Tools space. This was followed by a seven-year
 tenure overseeing Sun's Developer Outreach Program—tapping into a
 network of millions of developers who use Sun technologies and helping
 them to build software. As of last Fall, my focus is now on Sun's Cloud
 Tools, which includes the all-mighty NetBeans!<br>


 <br>


 <h2>From your outreach experience, what do you know that developers care most about?</h2>


 <p>Great technologies and an easy road to market. Sun has great
 technologies, but&nbsp; admittedly our road to market has not always
 been smooth. Apple, for example, does a good job of this with its
 iPhone, which developers can create apps for and make money as a
 result. Sun wants to help developers take their JavaFX, Java and Cloud
 apps to market successfully, and we are learning about how to give
 developers more opportunities to market what they build. <br>
 </p>


 NetBeans plays a prominent role in this goal—the IDE is an ideal
 launch pad for developers to start using Sun's technologies to easily
 create web services and web apps, as well as access cloud services. And
 when developers build applications that leverage Sun infrastructure
 then we know we're doing a good job.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>Has the current financial downturn changed Sun's commitment to NetBeans?<br>
 </h2>


 <div class="callout">“With its strong support for dynamic languages... NetBeans is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> IDE for Sun's Cloud.”</div>


 Sun's
 commitment to NetBeans continues to be strong, if not stronger. Yes,
 there's an economic slowdown, but it has also created opportunities.
 There is no better time to launch a start-up than now. Startup risks
 remain high, but the investment costs when it comes to technology is
 lower than ever before. Why? Cloud technology helps start-ups launch at
 less cost.<br>


 <br>


 Start-ups differentiate themselves by what they create and
 sell—services and software. When they do it better and faster than
 anyone else they make money. Therefore their success metrics depend on
 writing quality software fast, which is where good tooling software
 comes in.<br>


 <br>


 Put together the need for access to cloud services and a great tool to
 create quality software—you've got NetBeans to the rescue.
 With its strong support for dynamic languages—the primary languages
 used in the cloud—NetBeans is the way for developers to build
 software for Sun's cloud. NetBeans is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> IDE for Sun's cloud.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>What's the short term roadmap for NetBeans?</h2>


 We sent out a <a href="https://netbeans.org/servlets/NewsItemView?newsItemID=1346">message</a> to the NetBeans community in February that we
 want to deliver smaller pieces of innovation more quickly, to release
 chunks of NetBeans functionality on a rapid schedule. We'll have a
 release around JavaOne and another in the Fall/early Winter. We don't want the
 community to have to wait six or seven months for releases.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>Give us your assessment of NetBeans: its strengths and where you see opportunities for growth.<br>
 </h2>


 <div class="callout">"Expect to see Cloud and JavaFX support around JavaOne, and improved JavaEE
 support in the Fall."</div>


 An
 obvious strength that NetBeans has is its community. Ask developers
 about tooling and they're either neutral (“<span style="font-style: italic;">Oh, I use Eclipse</span>”) or they
 get very animated—if they love the tool they are using. And NetBeans
 users are passionate about the IDE. It's fun to write software with
 NetBeans. It's a very agile tool, not bloated; you can get just the
 pieces you want and leave out the rest.<br>


 <br>


 NetBeans supports a wide range of dynamic languages, mobile development
 tools, and the best cloud development environment the world has ever
 seen. It really is "the only IDE you ever need", which explains why
 developers are passionate about it.<br>


 <br>


 Looking ahead, we want to grow in the areas where we do well. So expect
 to see Cloud and JavaFX support around JavaOne, and improved JavaEE
 support in the Fall.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>What would you say to Eclipse users to give NetBeans a look?</h2>


 <div class="callout">"[NetBeans is] a much more enjoyable and streamlined experience."</div>
 To be fair, there is room for more than one IDE in the
 development space. We have programs at Sun that support Eclipse and
 offer Eclipse plugins. A number of Sun runtimes support tooling through
 Eclipse and NetBeans. GlassFish and OpenSolaris do as well. There's
 also an Early Access JavaFX plugin for Eclipse. Ultimately, the aim is
 to give as many developers as is possible access to Sun technology even
 if they're struggling with a cumbersome tool like Eclipse.<br>


 <br>


 So to Eclipse users I would say: “Try NetBeans as well. It's a
 much more enjoyable and streamlined experience. But we understand why
 you may not have a choice [professionally] but to use Eclipse.”<br>


 <br>


 <h2>So why is Sun sponsoring EclipseCon? </h2>


 Sun's participation is
 about giving all developers access to our technologies—Java, JavaFX,
 GlassFish, Solaris and so on. We want Sun runtimes to be the dominant
 runtimes, not only for the NetBeans community, but also for the Eclipse
 crowd and others. We are not excluding developers who have to or want to use Eclipse.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>Should we expect more partner relationships centered on support for features that NetBeans will no longer provide? </h2>


 An adjunct to our new strategy around the NetBeans engineering process
 becoming more agile is that we also can't do everything ourselves. There are places in the NetBeans portfolio where it makes
 sense for us to partner with other companies who provide extensive
 support for certain features. We're not backtracking; we are expanding support for a richer development environment.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>We miss the NetBeans WorldTour! How can users find out about what's new with NetBeans?</h2>


 The NetBeans WorldTour stops were wonderful events. Through them we
 learned that NetBeans enthusiasts existed all over the world and really
 wanted to interact with us. But in keeping with NetBeans's evolution, the WorldTour has been folded
 into the larger <a href="http://developers.sun.com/events/techdays/index.jsp">Sun Tech Days</a> agenda. <br>


 <br>


 NetBeans is now a full-fledged
 and successful member of Sun's technology portfolio, and is probably
 the most featured technology at Sun Tech Days events. It would be
 difficult to find a Tech Day presentation that does not make use of the
 IDE. Instead of a single day devoted to what's new and cool about
 NetBeans you now have three days—NetBeans showcased and in action every day,
 in almost every session.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>Going forward, how can the NetBeans community help the project?</h2>

 <div class="callout">"Let us know how we can build on our success..."</div>

 We need lots of help to continue to learn more about YOU. Help us
 identify and understand what are the key things that drive more
 adoption of
 NetBeans. We don't just want more users, we also want to know what
 works and doesn't for these users. Why has NetBeans been successful in
 your company? If there's a single NetBeans user in a large sea of
 Eclipse users, what is keeping us out of that space? How can NetBeans
 gain ground? Let us know how we can build on our success in areas like
 JavaEE, JavaFX, cloud,
 Java runtime, mobile, and so on. <br>


 <br>


 In the coming months the NetBeans team will be implementing new
 community programs that will let us expand the number of conversations
 we can have with users. I look forward to my role as the lead
 evangelist for NetBeans and the opportunity to meet people who use
 NetBeans, understand why they like it and help make it the top
 development tool.<br>


 <br>


 <h2>Matt, Thank you for the interview.</h2>


 <br>


 <br>


 </body></html>
	<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
	<html><head><!--Copyright © 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.-->









	<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">












	<meta name="description" content="Matt Thompson, Senior Director of Sun's Developer Cloud Tools, discusses why NetBeans continues to matter for Sun, and offers a look ahead for the IDE.">












	<meta name="keywords" content="NetBeans, IDE, integrated development environment, cloud, cloud services">












	<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../netbeans.css">














	<style type="text/css">
	<!--
	.callout {width:200px;float:left;color:gray;padding:0px 14px 10px 0px;line-height:110%;font-size:120%;font-weight:bold;}
	.photo {float:right;padding:10px 0px 10px 14px;}
	-->
	</style>
	<title>NetBeans IDE for the Cloud and Beyond: A Conversation with Matt Thompson</title>










	</head><body>


	<h1>NetBeans IDE for the Cloud and Beyond: A Conversation with Matt Thompson</h1>




	<span style="font-style: italic;">
	March 2009</span><br>







	<span style="font-style: italic;"><br>
	</span><img style="width: 207px; height: 259px;" alt="Matt Thompson" src="../../../images_www/articles/interviews/matt-thompson.jpg" align="right"><span style="font-style: italic;">In
	this interview, we speak with Matt Thompson, the Senior Director of
	Sun's Developer Cloud Tools, a group that includes NetBeans. Matt
	discusses the importance of the NetBeans IDE to Sun's emerging cloud
	space, and what the NetBeans community can expect as the IDE continues
	to evolve. And he has a message for developers who have yet to try
	NetBeans!<br>
	</span>
	<br>















	<h2>Matt, Welcome to the NetBeans Team! Please tell us about your background.</h2>




	I have been at Sun for 18 years total. I started out as an engineer for
	developer tools, working on C/C++, LISP and COBOL. I left for a few
	years to work for other companies, then returned to run Partner
	engineering for the Java Tools space. This was followed by a seven-year
	tenure overseeing Sun's Developer Outreach Program—tapping into a
	network of millions of developers who use Sun technologies and helping
	them to build software. As of last Fall, my focus is now on Sun's Cloud
	Tools, which includes the all-mighty NetBeans!<br>




	<br>















	<h2>From your outreach experience, what do you know that developers care most about?</h2>















	<p>Great technologies and an easy road to market. Sun has great
	technologies, but  admittedly our road to market has not always
	been smooth. Apple, for example, does a good job of this with its
	iPhone, which developers can create apps for and make money as a
	result. Sun wants to help developers take their JavaFX, Java and Cloud
	apps to market successfully, and we are learning about how to give
	developers more opportunities to market what they build. <br>
	</p>





	NetBeans plays a prominent role in this goal—the IDE is an ideal
	launch pad for developers to start using Sun's technologies to easily
	create web services and web apps, as well as access cloud services. And
	when developers build applications that leverage Sun infrastructure
	then we know we're doing a good job.<br>




	<br>




	<h2>Has the current financial downturn changed Sun's commitment to NetBeans?<br>
	</h2>





















	<div class="callout">“With its strong support for dynamic languages... NetBeans is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> IDE for Sun's Cloud.”</div>





	Sun's
	commitment to NetBeans continues to be strong, if not stronger. Yes,
	there's an economic slowdown, but it has also created opportunities.
	There is no better time to launch a start-up than now. Startup risks
	remain high, but the investment costs when it comes to technology is
	lower than ever before. Why? Cloud technology helps start-ups launch at
	less cost.<br>






	<br>






	Start-ups differentiate themselves by what they create and
	sell—services and software. When they do it better and faster than
	anyone else they make money. Therefore their success metrics depend on
	writing quality software fast, which is where good tooling software
	comes in.<br>






	<br>






	Put together the need for access to cloud services and a great tool to
	create quality software—you've got NetBeans to the rescue.
	With its strong support for dynamic languages—the primary languages
	used in the cloud—NetBeans is the way for developers to build
	software for Sun's cloud. NetBeans is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> IDE for Sun's cloud.<br>




	<br>




	<h2>What's the short term roadmap for NetBeans?</h2>















	We sent out a <a href="https://netbeans.org/servlets/NewsItemView?newsItemID=1346">message</a> to the NetBeans community in February that we
	want to deliver smaller pieces of innovation more quickly, to release
	chunks of NetBeans functionality on a rapid schedule. We'll have a
	release around JavaOne and another in the Fall/early Winter. We don't want the
	community to have to wait six or seven months for releases.<br>




	<br>




	<h2>Give us your assessment of NetBeans: its strengths and where you see opportunities for growth.<br>
	</h2>



	<div class="callout">"Expect to see Cloud and JavaFX support around JavaOne, and improved JavaEE
	support in the Fall."</div>













	An
	obvious strength that NetBeans has is its community. Ask developers
	about tooling and they're either neutral (“<span style="font-style: italic;">Oh, I use Eclipse</span>”) or they
	get very animated—if they love the tool they are using. And NetBeans
	users are passionate about the IDE. It's fun to write software with
	NetBeans. It's a very agile tool, not bloated; you can get just the
	pieces you want and leave out the rest.<br>






	<br>






	NetBeans supports a wide range of dynamic languages, mobile development
	tools, and the best cloud development environment the world has ever
	seen. It really is "the only IDE you ever need", which explains why
	developers are passionate about it.<br>






	<br>






	Looking ahead, we want to grow in the areas where we do well. So expect
	to see Cloud and JavaFX support around JavaOne, and improved JavaEE
	support in the Fall.<br>




	<br>




	<h2>What would you say to Eclipse users to give NetBeans a look?</h2>















	<div class="callout">"[NetBeans is] a much more enjoyable and streamlined experience."</div>
	To be fair, there is room for more than one IDE in the
	development space. We have programs at Sun that support Eclipse and
	offer Eclipse plugins. A number of Sun runtimes support tooling through
	Eclipse and NetBeans. GlassFish and OpenSolaris do as well. There's
	also an Early Access JavaFX plugin for Eclipse. Ultimately, the aim is
	to give as many developers as is possible access to Sun technology even
	if they're struggling with a cumbersome tool like Eclipse.<br>






	<br>






	So to Eclipse users I would say: “Try NetBeans as well. It's a
	much more enjoyable and streamlined experience. But we understand why
	you may not have a choice [professionally] but to use Eclipse.”<br>




	<br>




	<h2>So why is Sun sponsoring EclipseCon? </h2>





	Sun's participation is
	about giving all developers access to our technologies—Java, JavaFX,
	GlassFish, Solaris and so on. We want Sun runtimes to be the dominant
	runtimes, not only for the NetBeans community, but also for the Eclipse
	crowd and others. We are not excluding developers who have to or want to use Eclipse.<br>




	<br>






	<h2>Should we expect more partner relationships centered on support for features that NetBeans will no longer provide? </h2>






	An adjunct to our new strategy around the NetBeans engineering process
	becoming more agile is that we also can't do everything ourselves. There are places in the NetBeans portfolio where it makes
	sense for us to partner with other companies who provide extensive
	support for certain features. We're not backtracking; we are expanding support for a richer development environment.<br>


	<br>


	<h2>We miss the NetBeans WorldTour! How can users find out about what's new with NetBeans?</h2>







	The NetBeans WorldTour stops were wonderful events. Through them we
	learned that NetBeans enthusiasts existed all over the world and really
	wanted to interact with us. But in keeping with NetBeans's evolution, the WorldTour has been folded
	into the larger <a href="http://developers.sun.com/events/techdays/index.jsp">Sun Tech Days</a> agenda. <br>


	<br>


	NetBeans is now a full-fledged
	and successful member of Sun's technology portfolio, and is probably
	the most featured technology at Sun Tech Days events. It would be
	difficult to find a Tech Day presentation that does not make use of the
	IDE. Instead of a single day devoted to what's new and cool about
	NetBeans you now have three days—NetBeans showcased and in action every day,
	in almost every session.<br>




	<br>






	<h2>Going forward, how can the NetBeans community help the project?</h2>

	<div class="callout">"Let us know how we can build on our success..."</div>

	We need lots of help to continue to learn more about YOU. Help us
	identify and understand what are the key things that drive more
	adoption of
	NetBeans. We don't just want more users, we also want to know what
	works and doesn't for these users. Why has NetBeans been successful in
	your company? If there's a single NetBeans user in a large sea of
	Eclipse users, what is keeping us out of that space? How can NetBeans
	gain ground? Let us know how we can build on our success in areas like
	JavaEE, JavaFX, cloud,
	Java runtime, mobile, and so on. <br>






	<br>






	In the coming months the NetBeans team will be implementing new
	community programs that will let us expand the number of conversations
	we can have with users. I look forward to my role as the lead
	evangelist for NetBeans and the opportunity to meet people who use
	NetBeans, understand why they like it and help make it the top
	development tool.<br>




	<br>




	<h2>Matt, Thank you for the interview.</h2>






	<br>







	<br>



	</body></html>