Georges and I have been working on a set of eclipse plugins for boo development. There are several reasons I decided to give eclipse a try:

• I've been spending the last year working pretty much 50/50 on java and .net projects - this is to say that I've been using eclipse a lot and got used to it;
• I've also been in charge of writing some eclipse plugins so I got the expertise;
• eclipse's architecture is pretty well thought out (I'm not saying the other ides' out there are not - I'm only familiar with eclipse's);
• there are lots of plugins out there and lots of information about writing eclipse plugins - I'm sure you will agree this is in clear contrast with the other environments;
• the PDE environment is pretty mature and TDD plugin development is a reality;
• lots of other tools/frameworks/languages are already eclipsed and we get those for free: java, c++, antlr, cvs, svn, python, ruby, byecycle...
• I need a pleasant and smoother cross platform experience as I develop software for different platforms: we have already used the plugins under windows, linux and macosx and everything worked like a charm (well, sort of :));

What we already have:

• syntax highlighting (and of course we inherit most of eclipse's editing features like editor navigation and history);
• boo projects;
• background builders which report errors as you save the files;
• local library references, gac references and internal project references (I would have to explain a little more);
• launching (run as boo application, run as boo script);
• nunit integration (run as nunit test);
• interactive interpreter with code completion;
• stack trace navigation (click on a file:line information and have that file open in the editor);

It's already ok for my everyday, cross platform use but YMMV as usual.

The glorious screenshots (click to enlarge):

The contributed boo perspective on my ubuntu system

The background builder reports errors and warnings as you save the files

Some MacOSX love from Georges

Code completion on my ubuntu system

NUnit integration (running on windows)

The plugins will move to the boo repository soon. Stay tuned.

Working for db4o is really a joy.

Not only I get to work on a great product which is changing and will keep changing the way many people
develop software but also get to work and talk with very smart guys very frequently.

And now for the extra sugar they are sponsoring my trip to the PDC.

So if are you going to the PDC and want to exchange some ideas on object oriented databases,
agile programming languages, agile software development, drumming and/or lucid dreaming,
let me know!