Matisse is a new visual GUI builder that allows developers to save a lot of time laying out their GUIs. This has been a huge problem in the Java industry for many years. This is the big, new, hot feature that the developers are really clamoring for.

Matisse is light years ahead of VI [Eclipse Visual Interface].

The goal here is to remove all barriers to entry and get developers easy access to our tools.

Any time you can get some momentum going for yourselves, it is a confidence builder. You want to keep it up as much as you can for as long as you can. This was another test for us. We feel like we are doing the things it takes to win games right now.

It looks like they are going to ask developers to have to rewrite applications to use some of the features of the new system. If I'm a developer with a limited budget and am told I'm going to have to make major changes, or even minor changes, to my applications to keep up with Apple's operating system, I'm probably going to write for Windows and not for Mac.

Historically, we focused on the independent developer. We wanted to make such developers highly productive. Visual Studio 2005 is no different.