It would allow sets of rendering technologies to be combined to enable development of versatile applications and will augment the Eclipse community by bridging client- and server-side applications, according to an Eclipse document on the proposal.

Through the effort, plug-ins would be used to build modular, plug-and-play applications on servers, said Wolfgang Gehner, CEO of Infonoia, a Geneva -based software company leading the project.

"It's kind of taking the RCP [Eclipse Rich Client Platform], which runs on clients, but taking it and having it run on the server," Gehner said. These applications will feature reusable business logic, said Gehner.

Applications could be accessed via a Web interface. The technology could be applied to building Internet portals, as well.

A draft of the API for RSP-UI is expected in October; a final release is anticipated in May 2007. Advocates, however, are still awaiting the project's endorsement as a formal Eclipse project, Gehner said.