I understand that NB has a working, mature plugin/module model. And it works very well (I know, I've done NB plugins
myself).

However, it is "proprietary" (in the sense that is is used only in NB) and a much more widely accepted alternative
exists (OSGi and the Equinox implementation used in Eclipse).

The reality is that there is a massive move towards OSGi (I see it at my own employer, one of the US's largest
corporations, where it is being used both on CLIENT side and SERVER side) and as soon as that move is made, NetBeans RCP
gets automatically discarded as an option, since it would introduce a different plugin/module model.

Adopting OSGi would give Netbeans RCP a fighting chance against Eclipse RCP (which with its SWT/AWT bridge is now able
to host existing Swing controls very well). Right now, we are converting all of our existing Swing apps into Eclipse RCP
views and perspectives and all future dev will be in SWT, since we already switched to Eclipse RCP.

I know from an engineering perspective the switch to OSGi has no benefits for NB...but from a competetive perspective,
it's one of the few chances you have to stop the march of Eclipse domination, which is the reality that is happening
right now throughout corporations in North America.

NB should switch to OSGi and adopt Equinox (since it is already mature) and convert its plugin dev tools the new
plugin/module model.