IntelliJ vs. Eclipse: JetBrains Toolbox or Yatta Launcher?

From the translator:
The following is a translation from the German amusing interview with Frederick Ebelshäuser, where he reveals the attitude of Yatta to the recently released JetBrains Toolbox .

The creators of IntelliJ IDEA published the JetBrains Toolbox application for building and configuring JetBrains products. The equivalent for Eclipse is Yatta Launcher. We (the author of the text, JAXenter - approx. Per. ) Talked with Frederick Ebelshäuser (Yatta) about the similarity of these two tools and about the long-standing rivalry between Eclipse and IntelliJ.

JAXenter: JetBrains recently released its Toolbox. You, in turn, started with Yatta Launcher - a similar project for Eclipse. Is it possible, in your opinion, to draw a parallel between these two instruments?

Frederick Ebelshauser: Our Yatta Profiles development team every day, of course, is closely watching what new products are appearing on the software market. In the end, we want to continue to continuously improve Yatta Profiles and, in the course of this, to meet an increasing number of user requirements and cover an increasing number of user cases.

Since currently some developers prefer IntelliJ IDEA, rather than Eclipse, we, of course, especially closely follow the developments around these IDEs. The similarities between JetBrains Toolbox - still a very young product - and our Yatta Launcher - an application that is central to the Yatta Profiles - are immediately apparent.

JAXenter: What are these tools like?

Frederick Ebelshauser: For a start, in both programs it’s about a lightweight desktop application that lists various tools into one list, respectively, development environments: in the case of Toolbox, these are the commercial tools of JetBrains, and in Yatta Launcher - various Eclipse assemblies. The operating principles, user interfaces, including the location of functions, and the UX are noticeably similar, looking at the installation of JetBrains and the Eclipse IDE.

JAXenter: Can you name a couple of specific examples?

Frederick Ebelshauser: Tabs for tools and projects in Toolbox are equivalent to tabs for profiles and packages in Launcher (see screenshot). Is that in the Toolbox tabs at the top and not at the bottom, as in the Launcher, otherwise, however, the arrangement of the elements is almost identical: the product name and logo in the upper left corner, the menu - in the upper right.

The program settings also contain very similar items, starting with “Change proxy settings” (Toolbox) - “Edit proxy settings” (Launcher), continuing with “Default setting location” - “By default setting”, ending with clickable “Start at login system ”-“ Launch Launcher when the computer is turned on ”:

JAXenter: What is the actual chronology of the releases of both instruments?

Frederick Ebelshäuser: In September 2015, the first official release of Yatta Launcher was. Already in 2014, we went to various international conferences with relevant presentations. Several entries from there can be seen on the net, for example, a speech at EclipseCon Europe 2014 (published 01/15/2015 on YouTube).

JetBrains Toolbox public alpha was launched only in May 2016, after JetBrains first, in the good six months before, presented in its blog a program that, interestingly, was called “JetBrains App Launcher”. The first official release of Toolbox followed in October of the same year, as can be understood from a blog post on JetBrains.

Just the same temporary proximity speaks in favor of the influence of Yatta Launcher on the Toolbox concept. By the time the Launcher came out, well, quite clearly, before the Toolbox.

JAXenter: But you’re pointing out that JetBrains may have been “inspired” by the Yatta product. Is it, quite simply, not related to the work of a software maker - to watch your competitors and adopt proven concepts, and that you shouldn’t immediately talk about imitation? After all, you yourself noticed JetBrains Toolbox exploring the market.

Frederik Ebelshauser: Clear, applies. Ideas do not arise in a vacuum. This is confirmed by numerous lawsuits and accusations of plagiarism of large companies such as Apple or Microsoft, which partly drag each other through the courts, and partly become victims of accusations by unknown ancestors of ideological thefts today ( meaning patent trolls - approx. per. ).

But competition has a bracing effect on the business, on ideas that compete with each other, more and more enticing to each other. At the same time, we all share one goal: satisfied users. Surely we will learn some features that have proven themselves and that delight our users from other IDEs.

As for the Toolbox, not some individual features of Yatta Launcher were an example for him, but the whole concept of the application is in full detail. This is especially obvious.

JAXenter: Assuming that the JetBrains Toolbox was created, in fact, based on Yatta Launcher. What would this mean for you and Yatta Launcher?

Frédéric Ebelshäuser: We at Yatta take it lightly and, above all, flattered that our free tool inspired JetBrains. After all, IntelliJ IDEA is the main competitor of the Eclipse IDE. We will behave in a sporting way and are happy to compete for the best solution for developers.

JetBrains Toolbox has interesting and important implications when looking at the entire Eclipse community, because in the development community IntelliJ IDEA development environment is often presented as a more modern, innovative alternative to the old Eclipse IDE. In this case, however, it becomes clearly clear: The Eclipse open source community also introduces guiding, innovative concepts that are becoming an unmistakable example for developers of supposedly more modern commercial products. As for the JetBrains Toolbox, JetBrains really turned out to be a skillful simulator; But of course, the pioneer was the Eclipse development team. As enthusiasts of Eclipse, we were just as pleased as they cheered.

Frederick Ebelshäuser is a project manager and software engineer at Yatta. He has developed e-commerce solutions as a consultant in various fields. Today, Frederick, as a project manager, is engaged in the integration of Eat solutions from Yatta, and, in addition, he also develops profiles for Eclipse. In addition, he acts as a speaker with presentations in the Eclipse community. Frederick loves culture-trips and prefers to have breakfast in Barcelona.