egcs is an experimental spin-off of gcc that started when people got 
fed up waiting for gcc 2.8. As the C++ standard finally emerged,
egcs people strove trying to implement as much of it as possible.
Accordingly, egcs C++ compiler is more suitable for C++ development as
gnu gcc.  Its library approaches the standard, template support is almost
complete, namespace support is coming in, it also includes a newer
scheduler (haifa) that gives improved results on HPRisc and Alpha
architecture.  Hopefully, most features of egcs will migrate to 
gcc over time...

I still have to port over and check the g77, objective-C and java
front-end. egcs' g77 is more advanced and integrated than GNU-cc g++.

See http://egcs.cygnus.com for more details.
