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According to analysts, Sun Microsystems, the developer of Java and NetBeans, is a 'bottom dweller' in the commercial Java tool market, with under 10% of the tools market in which Borland Software and IBM lead. Sun's hope is that new offerings shown at JavaOne, especially visually oriented Java Studio Creator, will generate new interest in its tools. However, Sun will face significant challenges in altering perceptions in a developer community that has basically written off its commercial tools. For instance, Scott Jensen, software developer for Beneficial Life in Utah and a user of IntelliJ, says he does not use any Sun products. Sun has Java, he says but the real market is for products. A user of IBM WebSphere and its related development tools says he has never evaluated Sun tools, but is interested in the new tools from Sun, even though he has no time for them. Various other JavaOne attendees make similar comments, including one who says he prefers Eclipse over NetBeans because it is faster. Sun is bundling options and offering subscription pricing, but the increasing use of free open-source choices such as Eclipse and NetBeans is a threat to commercial products.
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