Enhancements equip developers with IM and tools to share code Unique among its development tool rivals, Sun’s Java Studio Enterprise 7 includes tightly integrated collaboration capabilities. Not only can developers send instant messages to each other from within the IDE, the collaboration tools also allow them to share and work on source code together.After installing the beta version of the IDE on several workstations, I enabled the included collaboration server and created accounts for multiple test developers. After each developer was logged in, I began a collaboration session by sharing code from some test projects. Most impressive was the fact that as source code was shared with multiple developers, the syntax-aware collaboration tools neatly maintained formatting for Java, XML, and HTML source files.This latest release also includes UML tools. Accessible from the context menu or the modeling tab, developers use these tools to build and update models easily. I created a variety of modeling diagrams quickly. When the modeling view is in use, the IDE neatly shifts other tabs in use out of the way Some of the new features in this release merely bring Sun on par with rival offerings, such as built-in profiling capabilities. Competing solutions, such as IBM WebSphere Studio, have offered these capabilities for some time. Sun’s proved to be on par with rivals, and with some additional functionality, such as built-in load generation tools.The documentation was not yet fully updated in the beta code I examined. Assuming the documentation is fully fleshed out by release time, Sun’s Java Studio Enterprise 7 is worth a serious look given its ease of use and innovative feature set. Sun Java Studio Enterprise 7 Sun Microsystems Cost: $1,895 per developer; $5 per seat when purchased as part of Sun Java Enterprise System Available: Dec. 2004 Software Development