Although it has supported Microsoft's development efforts for years, Intel Wednesday announced that it has officially joined software development consortium Eclipse as a supporting member, giving the Java community another powerful ally in its fight against the .NET development environment.

The move is a sign that the battle between the Java language faithful, including companies such as IBM and Sun Microsystems, and users of Microsoft platforms such as Visual Studio .NET environment, is heating up. Both Eclipse and Microsoft developers have been working feverishly to bring embedded systems to the fore for handheld devices and cell phones.

A source close to the matter said the news is perhaps a shift away from Microsoft, whom Intel has historically supported for most endeavors. "Before this, Intel were exclusively Windows, or did one-offs with Java developers," the source said.

However, ZapThink Senior Analyst Jason Bloomberg downplayed that thinking, noting that it doesn't mean Intel will support Microsoft less, "just that they will be adding Eclipse to their grab bag of software capabilities."

"I don't see that this announcement has any major implications for Microsoft," Bloomberg said. "Remember, Intel wants to drive the market for their chips, so they don't really care who's brand of software is running on them."