I was curious to see how NetBeans IDE had improved since my last review.

I started a new application by going the newbie process of 'File->New->New Wizard'. I noticed my harddrive starting to pound, then the CPU utilization start to rise from RunIde. I continued by selecting a template for my base application, and I choose 'Next'. The target location appeared, however the drive in which I installed NetBeans did not show up. Yes, I had installed NetBeans on something other than my default C drive. I clicked "Cancel" and went back to the File menu and noticed a 'Mount Filesystem'. Ok, what was 'Mount Filesystem' doing in an IDE running on Windows?

In NetBeans feature comparison chart contains the wording: "Native MS Windows appearance (not apparent it is a Java app)". NetBeans is apparently not a Windows application either.

Outrageous CPU utilization, goofy user experience with such things as 'Mount Filesystem', no refactoring. Sun can slam Eclipse all it wants, however just like end-users, developers expect a great GUI experience, even if the experience is free.

Note:
GUI problems have plagued Sun for sometime. The original release of IPlanet gave administrators and developers premature baldness. (Fortunately I didn’t have much to lose.)