I have mentioned the Eclipse development environment (IDE) before. It is a rapidly spreading “open source” alternative to Visual Basic. I mentioned it originally because some BI Vendors were developing “open source” BI/reporting tools for Eclipse. Then Business Objects released a free Eclipse plug-in that allows you to create and deploy Crystal Reports using a pure Java engine.

If you are a Visual Studio Developer and are considering trying Eclipse, this article from IBM might prove useful as an introduction since it is written specifically for VS users. There is also some commentary on Slashdot that you might find interesting.

I am also looking for someone who has tried or is currently using Crystal Reports for Eclipse to get some feedback. If you are interested in discussing your experience with CR for Eclipse, please drop me a line