Why "Install New Software..." menu entry is located under Help in eclipse.

Question

well, the title sais it all, but i was recurently wondering about that. Its just like in some older versions of windows, you had to hit the "Start" button to "Shutdown" the system

Answer 1

Because "Install New Software" is also kind of help.

Answer 2

Because putting the "Check for Updates" option under Help is fairly standard (as seen in OpenOffice, Firefox, VMware, VirtualBox...), and Eclipse's "Install New Software" option is very, very closely tied to its "Check for Updates" option (since both use the same repository architecture and configuration).

Answer 3

Because it's bad design.

It would make more sense to have it under a "Tools" menu.

Answer 4

Because it fits the "About" service, classically found under the Help menu:

• The About option on the Help menu provides information about installed features and plug-ins.
• The Check for Updates and Install New Software commands on the Help menu provide the ability to update existing features, and to find, download, and install new features.

Eclipse 3.6 (Helios) will introduce other "help-related" installation feature as well:

• compare 2 installations

• group several licences together (during the installation process, still managed under the Help menu)