Eclipse Members,
On December 13th and 14th the Eclipse Foundation board of directors will
hold our quarterly meeting. During this session one of the prime
deliverables is agreement on the programs that will be championed and funded by
the Foundation in 2006. As your board representatives, we
have already compiled a list of several programs that we feel will be of
interest to the add-in provider community and which we plan to champion the
foundation to adopt:
- Eclipse as an "Ingredient Brand" - We need to accelerate and
strengthen the marketing message that Eclipse is not an end-user technology
but rather a premium ingredient technology for all types of
commercial products and is much more than just an IDE. This means, for
example, doing a more visible job of positioning the RCP as a viable platform
for development and deployment of Java desktop applications and the support of
the Macintosh platform on par with Windows and Linux, including Swing / SWT
interoperability.
- Depth of Commerical Adoption through a Community Portal - Provide an Eclipse community portal for plug-ins with a focus on
driving value for plug-in providers via the eclipse.org website. Spend some
funds on advertising to drive demand to the portal.
- Management and Developer Seminars - In conjunction with interested members, develop and execute a series of
seminars in North America targeted at growing awareness within the user
community.
- Market Research - Fund on-going
market research with Evans Data on the growth of the Eclipse installed base
and ecosystem. Approximately 50% of this research will be funded jointly with
interested member companies.
- Marketing Symposiums - Arrange for at least two marketing
symposiums for the Eclipse Membership in 2006. (One in North America, one in
Europe.)
- Common Collateral - Develop common Eclipse marketing
collateral for use by all member companies.
- Member Value Case Studies - Develop case studies which
illustrate how member companies have achieved commercial success by their
participation with Eclipse.
- Business Model Development - Develop public collateral
documents illustrating the various business models successfully applied by
member companies.
- Member Meetings - Continue to grow and evolve our member
meetings as important and worthwhile activities.
In order to represent your interests to the best of our abilities, we'd all
appreciate it if you'd take the time to reflect on the programs listed and
provide us with your feedback. Are these programs valuable to you?
Do you have other programs you'd like to see in addition to, or instead of, the
ones listed? Is there anything else we can do for you at the board level
to help drive your company's commercial success?
Any of us would be pleased to discuss your thoughts on any Eclipse-related
issues by whatever means you find most convenient. Please feel free to use
the contact information in the signatures to reach us at your convenience.
Best regards,
Todd Williams, Rich Main, Howard Lewis
Eclipse Foundation Add-in Provider Representatives
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