NetBeans 6.8 joined the GlassFish v3 in the release feast.

NetBeans 6.8 released coordinated with GlassFish v3 today. NetBeans 6.8 can be considered a fine step ahead of NetBeans because Sun is officially supporting the NetBeans RCP platform as a product from now on.

NetBeans 6.8 features are as follow:

• Java Enterprise Edition 6 support
• Web Projects with JavaServer Faces 2.0 (Facelets)
• JavaFX 1.2.1 support
• Kenai.com: Connected Developer
• Full support for PHP 5.3. NetBeans is now a modern IDE for PHP as well as for Java
• Full Maven support for new projects and importing projects
• Full support for Ruby and Support for creating Rails 2.3.4 apps
• Full development cycle is provided for C/C++

More information:

• NetBeans IDE 6.8 Features
• NetBeans IDE 6.8 Tutorials and Documentation
• NetBeans Platform 6.8
• Videos of NetBeans IDE 6.8 in Action

NetBeans ECP, which the IDE is based on, is a first tier application development platform for Java platform. Anyone looking to develop a desktop application should definitly take a look at NetBeans RCP before making a decision about the framework or platform he or she wants to use.