It seems that every discussion about Eclipse these days quickly degrades into a fighting match about Swing (AWT) vs. JFace (SWT). "Swing is great and it's part of Java. You'd be a fool to anything else!"

Rather than attempt to obliterate SWT why don't we embrace it as the must needed alternative. Compitetion is a good thing; it forces each product to a higher level of quality. APIs (especially those for UIs) are not one stop shops. Each product has its pros and cons and having multiple products allows each developers to choose what is best for a particular application.

Like Linux to Microsoft, Pepsi to Coke or any coffee house to Starbucks, having Jface / SWT provides a much needed alternative to the firmly implanted incumbent. And having a choice makes everyone happy.