FTP connector still sucks. I cannot define a remote path when defining a connection. I have 120 domains on the server, so FTP connector stops loading the site. FATAL!
You still cannot connect a defined project to an ftp source and synchronize between them.

I like that they put phpUnit library there, but why not throw the JavaScript libraries as well?
Another thing I like is Zend_Tool, which looks interesting even if is probably not worth the money. The thing that I like about the ZF is that is not abusing shell commands. Let’s keep it minimal.

I don’t feel like there was the need for a major release only to give support for PHP 5.3 and to push the Zend Server a little in the mix ( why not care about Xampp?).

At the end of the test I still like more the free version of Aptana or NetBeans or even Eclipse PDT. I’m not building ZF projects every day and you can handle them even from other editors.

Even if I always recommended Zend Studio in a corporate environment I dont really think that the product has a net competitive advantage compared with other free IDE’s.

[related] – my comments on the Zend Studio 6 launch – not very different

A couple of weeks ago I also downloaded and installed Zend Eclipse aka Neon. I said “finally they realized that something was so wrong”. That beacause Eclipse worked smooth, even it wasn’t conceived for PHP. The team or the community who developed the PHPEclipse did a fantastic job, they deserve respect.

This is not an exhaustive comparation, is just a sum of personal impressions and desires and are directed to both teams in the same time:

• I want an editor, a good one, that can open .htaccess and binary files. I want to see hex, binary stuff, cvs, xml… all and fast. Some files are imposibile to open in Zend Studio Neon.
• I want a PHP editor. I know that all PHP is slowly starting to fusion with Java. I know some like this. But I hate it. I want an editor free of builds, ants, java perpectives, jre, jar and all things alike. I hate them.
• Databases are daily thing. I want an editor to communicate well with the databases. I could’t understand myself with the Lucent engine from Zend Neon. Classic Zend and PhpEclipse are better at this chapter.
• Code assist works best in the Zend Classic. In both Eclipse version after a while it stops appearing. I don’t know why. I want a better code assist. I want to write less every day.
• Server side: I love PHPEclipse because it detected my Xampp server and got perfectly with it without any help from my side. Exceptional. Zend Neon wants Zend Framework. What’s wrong with Xampp?
• Extra functions like phpDocumentator are very usefull. Also svn and ftp/sftp that I heard that work. Both have support for ssh. Code analyzer is good.
• The templates issue. Are better represented in EclipsePHP. Zend Framework Project may be intersting but I didn’t use it.
• The Bonnie situation. I don’t want to discuss about money here. But is cash vs. free we are talking, you should ask your wife if she will get one for you at Christmas. Let’s see how open source is she!

Final word: Just a half step further!
Upgrading to Zend’s Neon project over Zend Studio is like upgrading to Vista over WinXP, looks nicer, but you can’t get shit done any magnitude faster. Next year I want to concentrate less on IDE and more on work, ok?