Top 10 Reasons to Switch to the NetBeans IDE

1. Works Out of the Box Simply download and install the NetBeans IDE and you are good to go. Installation is a breeze with its small download size. All IDE tools and features are fully integrated—no need to hunt for plug-ins—and they work together when you launch the IDE.
   
2. Free and Open Source When you use the NetBeans IDE, you join a vibrant, open-source community of thousands of users ready to help and contribute. There are discussions on the NetBeans mailing lists, blogs on PlanetNetBeans, and helpful FAQs.
   
3. Connected Developer The NetBeans IDE is the tool of choice for teams working in a collaborative environment. You can create and manage Kenai.com-hosted projects, file issue tracking reports using both Jira and Bugzilla, and collaborate with like-minded developers—all directly from within the familiar interface of the IDE.
   
4. Powerful GUI Builder The GUI Builder (formerly known as Project Matisse) supports a sophisticated yet simplified Swing Application Framework and Beans Binding. Now you can build GUIs in a natural way.
   
5. Support for Java Standards and Platforms The IDE provides end-to-end solutions for all Java development platforms including the latest Java standards.
   
   • Java Mobility Support Complete environment to create, test, and run applications for mobile devices. With preprocessor blocks, you can readily handle fragmentation issues. Support for Java Mobility development is the best among all Java development tools.
   • Java Enterprise Edition (EE) 6 support: The first free, open-source IDE to support Java EE 6 specifications.
   • Java Standard Edition (SE) Support: You can develop applications using the latest Java SE standards.
6. Profiling and Debugging Tools With NetBeans IDE profiler, you get realtime insight into memory usage and potential performance bottlenecks. Furthermore, you can instrument specific parts of code to avoid performance degradation during profiling. The HeapWalker tool helps you evaluate Java heap contents and find memory leaks.
   
   
7. Dynamic Language Support The NetBeans IDE provides integrated support for scripting languages such as Ruby and Ruby on Rails, PHP, Groovy, JavaScript, JavaFX and Python.
   
   • PHP: With the NetBeans IDE for PHP, you get the best of both worlds: the productivity of an IDE (code completion, real-time error checking, debugging and more) with the speed and simplicity of your favorite text editor in a less than 30mb download.
   • Ruby and Ruby on Rails Support: Both native Ruby and JRuby development on Rails are available. You can switch easily between the two. The sophisticated Ruby editing capabilities makes it easy to create and modify Ruby applications.
   • JavaScript: The NetBeans IDE has the JavaScript tools you need: an intelligent JavaScript editor, CSS/HTML code completion, the ability to debug JavaScript in Firefox and IE, and bundled popular JavaScript libraries. Your favorite JavaScript framework will get you 80% of the way, NetBeans IDE will help you with that last 20%.
   • Groovy: In the NetBeans IDE, you can now create Grails applications, integrate Groovy scripts with your JavaSE project.
   • JavaFX: The NetBeans IDE is the official tool for JavaFX development! See your visual code live in the editor, and analyze your application's performance with the JavaFX Profiler.
     
   • Python: Discover the joys of Python programming with the NetBeans IDE. Enjoy great editor features such as code completion, semantic highlighting, and more.
     
8. Extensible Platform Start with its extensible platform and add your own NetBeans IDE features and extensions or build an IDE-like application, keeping only features you want. Extending the platform and its Swing-based foundation saves development time and can optimize performance.
   
9. Customizable Projects Through the NetBeans IDE build process, which relies on industry standards such as Apache Ant, make, Maven, and rake, rather than a proprietary build process, you can easily customize projects and add functionality. You can build, run, and deploy projects to servers outside of the IDE.
   
10. Non-Java Code Support You're not limited to the Java programming language. You can include many other programming languages, such as C/C++, scripting languages like JavaScript, Ruby, etc. Even more exciting, define your own language and include it in your projects.