"Free" is not typically a word that's associated with IBM, especially when it comes to System i and System z programming tools, which can carry seven- or eight-figure price tags for the biggest customers. But Big Blue is making a big gamble that a free version of its EGL tool for creating Web 2.0 applications, tentatively named EGL Community Edition, will pay off in the long run by establishing a large community of users who are familiar with EGL, and provide an alternative to PHP and Ruby on Rails.

IBM announced plans to deliver a free, unsupported version of its Eclipse-based EGL development tools for creating Web 2.0 applications at the recent Rational user conference in Orlando, Florida. Some of the details, such as the product's name, are still being hashed out. But if everything goes as planned, the offering will be available by the end of August.