Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced the general availability of the Java based open-source NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) software tools via download at http://www.netbeans.org. NetBeans 5.0 IDE provides comprehensive support for building Java SE, Java EE, and Java ME applications and includes a variety of unique new features and significant enhancements such as NetBeans GUI Builder (formerly Project Matisse), that differentiates it from all other developer tools.

Other features of the release include: completely redesigned support for CVS; support for the Sun Java System AppServer 8.2; BEA WebLogic 9 and JBoss 4 application servers; Struts and Java Server Faces support and new types of re-factoring and editor enhancements that make writing code even easier than before.