The famous Java IDE, Intellij IDEA, will provide free licenses for active open source projects.
Intellij IDEA will provide free licenses for OSS
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Nice!
Too late for me though, I am firmly set on using Eclipse – and thats what I use at work. No reason to use Idea at home developing OSS and Eclipse at work. Best just use Eclipse.
(No, don’t want to hear crap about me getting it for work too – just accept that some people like other IDEs than IDEA *gasp*)
not wanting to use Intellij that is. Eclipse replicates much of the editing, but last I checked, it’s still not as intuitive or as fast. Then there are the refactoring tools which seem more comprehensive in Intellij.
This is pretty good news. At the same time, I’m not a big believer in Java anyways. I really don’t think the implementation is quite right. Mind you my world view in terms of software development is more the application side and blending in with OS native idioms. Especially important in things like KDE.
… I have already bought it. However I really don’t regret it: it’s fantastic. Eclipse is very nice too, but I get lost with all the plugins of variable quality and price, that are sometimes incompatible (eg. Spindle and xmlbuddy). The nice thing about IDEA is that it’s a full featured IDE but it’s not “in the way”, helps you when just when you want it, and otherwise lets you do your work.
meh, think I’ll bite. Might as well try it out – who knows
I do believe in Java: somehow java code comes out nice. My C++ code is always a big mix of programming styles, libraries etc.
Although with QT-Windows being GPLed, I suspect any Desktop application I will make in the future will use QT and therefore C++.
Since Eclipse has a huge mindshare these days and Java has pretty much 0 impact on the open source desktop. Too bad that Swing in Java 5 still doesn’t have sub-pixel rendering.
The article mentions the criteria for a license, saying:
To participate in the JetBrains Open Source Support Program and acquire a free IntelliJ IDEA user license, a developer must be a contributor to an active and vital Open Source project that is recognized within the global Open Source community. Licenses will be valid for one year and will apply to all product upgrades during that period, with annual renewals required for continued use.
It sounds like a much better offer than it actually is, since most people will not come close to meeting these requirements (not to mention that they could be obtuse about it by defining their own vague versions of “active” and “vital”; just because you think your project is important, doesn’t mean they will…) You are also required to renew your license every year, so if your “vital” project loses a bit of speed, no more IDEA