Oracle updated NetBeans to version 6.9 today. Here's the list of new features and updates, straight from Oracle's mouth:

·         NetBeans IDE 6.9 introduces JavaFX Composer, a visual editor and layout tool for building JavaFX applications.

·         With JavaFX Composer, organizations can quickly build, visually edit, and debug Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and bind components to various data sources, including databases and Web services.

·         NetBeans IDE 6.9 also offers OSGi interoperability, enabling developers to easily create OSGi bundles for applications based on the NetBeans Platform.

·         NetBeans IDE 6.9 enables developers to rapidly create web, enterprise, desktop, and mobile applications using the Java platform, JavaFX and scripting languages. 

·         NetBeans IDE 6.9  is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Oracle Solaris.

·         NetBeans IDE 6.9 provides improved editing and development capabilities, including:

o        Improved Java language editing with more than 80 new “hints”, to enhance developer productivity.

o        Additional support for Java Enterprise Edition 6, including Contexts and Dependency Injection (CDI) and JSR-299.

o        New JavaFX Composer enables visual editing of form-based user interfaces.

o        Enhanced JavaFX script editing and refactoring.

o        Support for CSS code completion, find usages, and renaming capabilities for HTML and CSS.

o        The ability to quickly code, test, and deploy OSGi bundles using Maven and Felix.

o        Bundled Felix container with the ability to deploy other containers, such as Equinox.

o        Support for the Spring 3.0 framework; PHP Zend framework, as well as better PHP formatting and code completion; Ruby on Rails 3.0 and specification of which gems the IDE should reference.

That's a lot of interoperability stuff. It's very nice to see that Oracle has taken Sun away from its cloistered former ways. Traditionally, NetBeans has been a super star in Sun environments, but when compared to Eclipse, it's always lagged behind in its support of 3rd party tools and languages. If Oracle keeps this up, they might just get NetBeans up to snuff for more than just straight Java users. Good to see that Oracle isn't short-changing the NetBeans team.