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Netbeans is a Java application and requires Java to run, which is probably already loaded on your computer. The Netbeans license is owned by Oracle from its acquisition of Sun, but it is a free and open source IDE. Since PHP is now an object-oriented language, like Java, NetBeans has incorporated PHP into its editor. You have a choice to install NetBeans with just the PHP bundle, which is what I did, since I do not do a lot of Java work. The Netbeans 7.1 download and install was seamless. The installer downloads 46.6 Mb, which grows to 152.5 Mb on install. By the way, my Eclipse Helios folder checks in at 390 Mb. The installation took about 5 minutes and NetBeans came up quickly and easily. NetBeans with various Windows open If you do a feature by feature analysis of Eclipse and Netbeans, you'll find that both IDE's pretty much have the same features and functionality. You'll find several good articles on the web about this, so I won't go into individual features here.