And…there’s a new (EA) release too. Early Adopter release 4 marks the name change from Raptor to SQL Developer. I think it sounds a bit duller than Raptor, but also more mature. Nonetheless, SQL Developer is not dull.
As you can read in the (pricing) FAQ, SQL Developer will remain free and its functionality will be integrated into JDeveloper release 10.1.3+ (as in greater than 10.1.3).
Although Shay works for Oracle, so he is a little biased, but you’ve got to admit: he’s got a point. A strong point. The Matisse-hype in the new Netbeans turns out to become a vendor-lockin(g) mechanism. You cannot modify the generated Matisse code other than visually in Netbeans. Not with another IDE or text-editor. Changes will be ignored and/or overwritten. Not something you would expect after all the drumrolls.
Read the whole review Shay’s referring to.