Tasktop Technologies, creators of Eclipse Mylyn and the leading provider of task management for application lifecycle management (ALM), today announced it is developing updates to the Eclipse IDE that will incorporate new features available in Windows 7 into the leading open source development environment. In collaboration with Microsoft, Tasktop will ensure that the improved productivity and user experience of Windows 7 will be available to developers using the Eclipse IDE, as well as to desktop applications built on the Eclipse platform, such as the Tasktop Pro rich client for agile task management.

Due for release in Q1 of 2010, the Windows 7 Eclipse integration updates will be available to millions of software developers that write applications using Java, C/C++, PHP and other languages. The new Eclipse user experience on Windows 7 will enable developers to take advantage of Windows 7-specific functionality, such as accessing frequently used Eclipse artifacts from the Windows task bar. The initial features will extend the Eclipse Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) to leverage Windows 7 features, such as progress integration, application task support and search-based navigation. The updates also will modernize the look-and-feel of Eclipse to match the Windows 7 user interface experience.

"We're working with Tasktop to deliver a next-generation experience for developers using Eclipse on the Windows 7 platform," said Jean Paoli, general manager of Interoperability Strategy at Microsoft. "This collaborative effort is part of our ongoing work to provide greater choice and opportunities for developers working in mixed IT environments."