Genuitec has released a new milestone of its Eclipse-based integrated development environment for Java developers: MyEclipse 5.5M1 (GA version 5.5 should be available by end of Q1 2007).

The most notable enhancement is the four new special purpose Windows applications known as simple non-integrated applications (SNAPs).

SNAPs are part of the expanding MyEclipse Fusion Technology suite. SNAPs allow developers to accomplish focused tasks without the weight of an entire IDE. SNAPs can also be used with any other development tool, and therefore free users from the vendor lock-in that is commonly associated with development environments. The current SNAPs available are the Visual HTML/Web Designer, XML Editor, Database Explorer, and Image Editor (including new screen capture capabilities).

Updated February 12th, 2007: Users of NetBeans and Visual Studio are now able to utilize SNAPs directly in their own environment via the MyEclipse “Use-Anywhere” connectors.