I have heard positive things about Eclipse RCP (Rich Client Platform) - does Microsoft has similar plugin UI framework available? I found an article from the Eclipse.org marketing director where he states:
"An organization that is 100% Microsoft probably won't/shouldn't consider Eclipse RCP."
A colleague pointed out that this article was posted in 2005, so i was wondering if Microsoft has a competing product by now, and if not, why not?
According to Rich Client Platform
While the Eclipse platform is designed to serve as an open tools platform, it is architected so that its components could be used to build just about any client application. The minimal set of plug-ins needed to build a rich client application is collectively known as the Rich Client Platform.
Applications other than IDEs can be built using a subset of the platform. These rich applications are still based on a dynamic plug-in model, and the UI is built using the same toolkits and extension points. The layout and function of the workbench is under fine-grained control of the plug-in developer in this case.
So I'm pretty sure the competition is the .Net platform itself.
From what I understand after reading a quick description of Eclipse RCP, Microsoft's version of the product would be a stripped-down Visual Studio shell that you use as a starting point for your own app.
It turns out they do have a product like that, but it's not really intended for building apps other than custom IDEs. Personally, I think this is a good thing. Eclipse and Visual Studio are both rather heavy programs. Even stripped down, I don't think they'd make s very good starting points. I'm much happier using Windows Forms, WPF, or even Silverlight.