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Up to Netbeans 8.0, at least on Linux, I could switch to another application while Netbeans is loading and the splash screen would disappear under that window. Since Netbeans 8.1, the splash screen remains on top of all other windows which means the user can't do anything else. The splash screen should not be made a topmost window, so the user can switch away from it.
Well, it works for me, I did not observe any change of behavior. I can move any window on top of the splash screen without problems on Ubuntu 14.04.