Mozilla Or Eclipse

Which would make the better platform for general purpose applications - Mozilla or Eclipse?

Maybe Mozilla because it has been used to implement general applications. Eclipse is for an IDE. With the recent eclipse changes that may not be the case as much.

Sorry, but Eclipse was never intended to be just for an IDE, it was always intended to be a general GUI environment so that people (eg. IBM Consulting) could glue applications together at the desktop. The Java IDE was the KillerApp to get things bootstrapped and interest the programmers.

From http://patricklogan.blogspot.com/2004_02_29_patricklogan_archive.html#107799801447620231

I'd vote for eclipse because of the sheer richness of the APIs. You get low level widgetry works with JavaSwt and a nice layer above that with JDT. This is where most toolkits stop - afraid to "impose" or "suggest" how one should shape the application model. But this is where eclipse just shines with the whole plug-in architecture. Also, encouraged by Apple and it's AppleiLifeApps? I've started to push myself to design apps that don't succumb to ExcessiveWindowProliferation?. Eclipse makes this sort of thinking easier. I also like developing applications in Java as opposed to XML. -- rpomeroy@mac.com

Depends on the application. Eclipse for highly interactive apps with fine-grained interaction requirements, and Mozilla for those for which coarse-grained document exchange style interactions are fine. Of course, browsers like Mozilla are evolving to accommodate some of the interactivity in fat-client style apps, using JavaScript. But I don't see a trend the other way. So ceteris paribus, I'd have to pick Mozilla. -- MarkBaker

You seem to be comparing Eclipse with "modern browsers that support JavaScript" (and Mozilla certainly is one). But Mozilla can, in addition, be customized with plug-ins to act like a fat-client. Mozilla has been used to implement (non-Internet-connected) stand-alone applications. -- DavidCary

I have been exploring both Mozilla and Eclipse for general purpose fat client applications. And at the end I prefer Mozilla. I generally develop my middle layer in Java and J2EE and rich GUI in MozillaXul, JavaScript on Mozilla platform. Though Eclipse have a rich API and I love the plugin architecture, but it is difficult to prototype applications with SWT. Mozilla gives the power of fast prototyping. With Overlays and binding on Mozilla we can create the same pluggable components just like Eclipse. I have developed a core GUI platform for my all applications (just like core of Eclipse)and extend it with application specific components just by dropping them in the chrome directory (this is what we achive in Eclipse by dropping the extensions in plugin directory in Eclipse). Agree that Eclipse has rich API and it is robust. But if you compare the skills and learning curve required to master it, Mozilla is a clear winner.

I vote for Mozilla for general purpose business applications.

-- rajbsaini@yaho.com

I also vote for Eclipse rather than Mozilla! -- edward