Eclipse Foundation

The Eclipse Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that acts as a steward of the Eclipse open source software development community. It is an organization supported by over 300 members. The Foundation focuses on key services such as: intellectual property (IP) management, ecosystem development, development process, and IT infrastructure. Its members include industry leaders who have embraced open source as a key enabler for business strategy.[2]

The Eclipse Foundation
FormationFebruary 2, 2004 (2004-02-02)[1]
PurposeThe Eclipse Foundation's purpose is to advance open source projects and cultivate communities and business ecosystems.
HeadquartersOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Membership
300+ members
Executive Director
Mike Milinkovich
Websitewww.eclipse.org

Created to allow a vendor-neutral, open, and transparent community to be established around the original Eclipse Project, the Foundation provides a global community of individuals and organizations with a mature, scalable, and commercially focused environment for collaboration and innovation. Its stated aim is to cultivate both the community and "an ecosystem of complementary products and services.[2]

The Eclipse Foundation is considered a "third generation" [3] open-source organization, and is home to Jakarta EE, and over 375 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, and frameworks for a wide range of technology domains such as the Internet of things (IoT), Automotive, Geospatial, Systems Engineering, and many others. " The most well-known of the Eclipse projects is the Eclipse platform, a multi-language software development environment and IDE".[2]

History

The Eclipse Project was originally created by IBM in November 2001 and was supported by a consortium of software vendors. The Eclipse Project continues to be used by millions of developers.[2]

In 2004, the Eclipse Foundation was founded to lead and develop the Eclipse community.[4] It was created to allow a vendor-neutral, open, and transparent community to be established around Eclipse.[2]

Top Level Projects

As of June 2020, the Eclipse Foundation hosts more than 375 open source projects.[5]

There are more than 1,613 committers committers to Eclipse projects and more than 240 million lines of code have been contributed to Eclipse project repositories as of June 2020.[6]

Top Level Eclipse Projects

The Foundation utilizes a hierarchical project structure. Each project stems from a primary parent project and may include sub-projects. The uppermost projects, which do not have a parent project, are called Top Level Projects.[7]

As of August 2018, the Eclipse Foundation Top Level projects are:

Eclipse Working Groups

The Eclipse Foundation is governed by a set of bylaws, agreements, and policies. One aspect of this governance is vendor-neutrality. A Vendor-neutral governance model is one which encourages industry collaborations, which are carried out using Working Groups.

Eclipse Working Groups are the collaboration of organizations that combine practices of open source development, with a set of services required for open innovation. They allow organizations to foster industry collaborations across organizational boundaries.[8]

As of April 2020, the Eclipse Foundation hosts 14 Working Groups.

These include:

Capella IC

The Capella Industry Consortium is part of the PolarSys Working Group. It focuses on developing vendor-neutrality and open governance in the ecosystem around the Capella project. Capella is an open MBSE solution which offers methodological guidance, intuitive model editing, and viewing capabilities for Systems, Software, and Hardware Architects.

GEMOC RC

The GEMOC Research Consortium supports the international initiative to develop, coordinate, and disseminate Research & Transfer efforts on the use and globalization of modeling languages. The initiative develops techniques, frameworks, and environments to facilitate the creation, integration, and automated processing of heterogeneous modeling languages.

Internet of Things

The Eclipse IoT Working Group provides the open technology needed to build IoT devices, gateways and cloud platforms. Eclipse SmartHome, serving as the foundation of openHAB, QIVICON and others, is a subdivision of Eclipse IoT.[9]

Jakarta EE

The Jakarta EE Working Group cultivates business interests related to the cloud native Java technologies.

LocationTech

The LocationTech Working Group focuses on open source geospatial technologies.

openMDM

The openMDM Working Group provides tools and systems, qualification kits and adapters for standardized and vendor independent management of measurement data in accordance with the ASAM ODS standard.

openMobility

The openMobility Working Group shapes and fosters the development of required software tools and frameworks based on validated mobility models in order to provide a common platform for industrial applications and academic research.

openPASS

The openPASS Working Group develops core frameworks and modules for the safety assessment of driving assistance and automated driving systems.

Papyrus IC

The Papyrus Industry Consortium is organized under the Polarsys Working Group. It provides resources to enhance the Papyrus projects for systems engineering.

Polarsys

The PolarSys Working Group creates, collaborates with, and supports Open Source tools for the development of embedded systems.

Science

The Eclipse Science Working Group is a collaboration of people developing software components used for basic scientific research.

Tangle EE

The Tangle EE Working Group provides a governed environment for organizations and contributors to develop new ideas and applications using IOTA technologies.

Types of Membership

There are five types of membership to the Eclipse Foundation.[10] These include:

Strategic Members

Strategic Members are organizations that invest developers and other resources to further develop the Eclipse technology. Each strategic member has a representative on the Eclipse Foundation Board of Directors.

There are two types of strategic members. These types are Strategic Developers and Strategic Consumers.

  • Strategic Developers are major contributors of open source technology to Eclipse. Strategic developers lead Eclipse Foundation open source projects and have at least eight developers assigned full-time to develop Eclipse technologies. These members also have representation on the Eclipse Planning and Architecture Councils.
  • Strategic Consumers are major users of Eclipse technology. Strategic Consumers have the option to contribute one or two developers to Eclipse projects.[11]

Current Strategic Members

As of October 2019, there are 11 Strategic Members.[12] These include (in alphabetical order):

  • CA Technologies
  • CEA LIST
  • Fujitsu Limited
  • Huawei
  • IBM
  • Konduit
  • OBEO
  • Oracle
  • Red Hat, Inc.
  • Robert Bosch GmbH
  • SAP SE

Enterprise Members

Enterprise Members are typically larger organizations that use Eclipse technology as a platform for their internal development projects and/or build products and services built on, or with, Eclipse.[13]

Solutions Members

Solutions Members are organizations that participate in the development of the Eclipse ecosystem. These organizations offer products and services based on, or with, Eclipse.[14]

As of August 2018, there are 151 Solutions members involved with the Eclipse Foundation.[15]

Some examples of Solutions members are:

  • ADLINK Technology Inc.
  • AIRBUS
  • BMW Group
  • BREDEX GmbH
  • Canoo Engineering AG
  • Cirrus Link Solutions, LLC
  • EclipseSource
  • Ericsson AB
  • Eurotech
  • GE Digital
  • Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
  • Google Inc.
  • Huawei
  • Intel Corporation
  • Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc.
  • Mettenmeier GmbH
  • Microsoft Corp.
  • Nokia
  • OpenText Analytics
  • Samsung
  • Siemens AG
  • Toyota Motor Europe NV SA
  • TypeFox GmbH
  • Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Associate Members

Associate Members are non-voting members who can submit requirements, participate in project reviews and participate in the Annual Meeting of the Membership at Large. Associate members also participate in scheduled quarterly update meetings of the same.[16]

As of August 2018, there are 121 Associate Members of the Eclipse Foundation.[17]

Some examples of Associate Members are:

  • Caltech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • Carleton University
  • Carnegie Mellon University, Software Industry Center
  • Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
  • Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology
  • Michigan State University Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
  • Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)
  • Professional Science Master's in GIS, Temple University
  • Queen's University at Kingston
  • Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB (Swiss Federal Railways)
  • The University of York
  • University of Calgary
  • University of Manchester

Committer Members

Committer Members are committers who become full members of the Eclipse Foundation. Committers are the core developers of Eclipse projects and can commit changes to project source code. Committer Members have representation on the Board of Directors.

As of August 2018, there are 390 Committer Members of the Eclipse Foundation.

Funding

The Eclipse Foundation is a non-profit member-supported organization. The Foundation is funded largely from membership dues.

  • Strategic members contribute annual dues of 0.2% of their corporate revenues (minimum $25K, maximum $500K).
  • The annual membership fee for Enterprise Members is tiered based on revenue.
    • There is one standard Enterprise membership fee for non-for-profit organizations, standards bodies, universities, research institutes, media and publishing, government and other organization types as defined by the Eclipse Foundation board of directors.
  • The annual membership fee for Solutions Members is tiered based on revenue.
    • There is one standard Solutions membership fee for not-for-profit organizations, standards bodies, universities, research institutes, media and publishing, government and other organization types as defined by the Eclipse Foundation board of directors.
  • Associate membership is gratis for not-for-profit organizations, standards bodies, universities, research institutes, media and publishing, government and other organization types as defined by the Eclipse Foundation board of directors.
    • There is one standard annual fee for all other organizations, including for-profits.

Events

The Eclipse Foundation hosts 3 main types of events: Conferences, Demo Camps, and Eclipse Days.

Conferences

Eclipse Foundation conferences host technical sessions on current topics pertinent to the Eclipse developer and the Eclipse Working Group communities, as well as sessions that demonstrate Eclipse-based tools in action.[18]

The Eclipse Foundation's flagship event is EclipseCon. It provides opportunity for the Eclipse community to learn, explore, share and collaborate on the latest ideas and information about Eclipse and its member companies.[19]

Demo Camps & Stammtisch

Eclipse DemoCamps are collaborative events. DemoCamps include technical talks and demonstrations from the Eclipse community [20] and showcase the technology being built by the Eclipse community.[21]  

Eclipse Days and Hackathons

Eclipse Days are day-long events focused on Eclipse Technology. Eclipse Days facilitate networking and face-to-face interactions within the Eclipse Community.

Eclipse Hackathons are gatherings of developers to work on bugs and feature requests to create a patch for projects. Developers divide into small groups led by veteran of the project to complete the patch.[22]

References
  1. "Eclipse Forms Independent Organization". Press Release. Archived from the original on 2004-04-07. Retrieved 2004-02-04.
  2. "About the Eclipse Foundation". Eclipse.org. Eclipse Foundation. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  3. François Letellier (2008), Open Source Software: the Role of Nonprofits in Federating Business and Innovation Ecosystems, AFME 2008.
  4. Milinkovich, M. "Eclipse Forms Independent Organization |". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  5. "Open Source Leader The Eclipse Foundation Adds Record Number of New Members in 2020". June 9, 2020.
  6. Milinkovich, Mike. "2020 Annual Eclipse Foundation Community Report". www.eclipse.org. p. Membership.
  7. Beaton, Wayne. "Eclipse Development Process 2015 | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  8. Guindon, Christopher. "About Eclipse Working Groups | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  9. "Eclipse SmartHome - A Flexible Framework for the Smart Home". eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-10-25. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  10. Inc., Eclipse Foundation. "Types of Membership | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  11. Inc., Eclipse Foundation. "Types of Membership | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  12. "Explore Our Members | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-27. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  13. Inc., Eclipse Foundation. "Types of Membership | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  14. Inc., Eclipse Foundation. "Types of Membership | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  15. Guindon, Christopher. "Explore Our Members | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  16. Inc., Eclipse Foundation. "Types of Membership | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  17. Guindon, Christopher. "Explore Our Members | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  18. "EclipseCon France 2018". EclipseCon France2018. 2014-01-28. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  19. "EclipseCon". 2018-01-16.
  20. "Eclipse Insight: Building Modeling Tools". Eventbrite (in German). Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  21. "Eclipse DemoCamps 2018 - Eclipsepedia". wiki.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  22. Joncas, Roxanne. "Organize an Eclipse DemoCamp or Hackathons | The Eclipse Foundation". www.eclipse.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-05.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.