Eclipse 3.0 does not replace the original Plugin mechanism with OSGI. It has just made work with standard compatibility: gives users a series of APIs to access. In this process, you must do some changes (such as Plugin Registry and Loading mechanisms) to complete compatibility with OSGi standards. The initial Plugin core only supports static extensions, that is, if you want to change a already existing PLUG, you must restart Core, that is, to exit Eclipse and restart.
There are many people asking if eclipse is compatible with OSGi specifications rather than other specifications? Before Eclipse was donated, Eclipse was developed by OTI, and its goal was to develop an embedded Java software development platform. On the Internet now, there are still many connections to Visual Age Micro Edition (Vame). This is also a reason why SWT is conceived, they want to use SWT to use the user interface in the embedded device. This kind of origin explained why I chose the OSGi specification.
Another reason is that there is no other specification in addition to OSGI. The OSGI specification is widely supported in lightweight service architecture applications. Moreover, Osgi is supported by a well-known company in many telecommunications industry and a well-known company in other industries. They need to use Osgi to compete with Sun's J2ME.
