Hi again,
I have downloaded your starting point from your github site and tried it. This editor is still 67MB and it takes about ten seconds to start. There is still a lot of stuff in your sandbox that the "new" editors don't have. For example the build in help should go (all other editors just open a webpage.)
I think that the sandbox eclipse you are thinking of should throw even more away and start with only the basics. I have played with your concept a little bit and made an alternative sandbox here [1] (pure e4). This is a basic text editor with really the minimal eclipse components. It is 25 MB and it starts in 3 seconds. comparable to Code and Brackets. (SublimeText is split second, unbelievable.)
The question is: Who wants a basic text editor? Everybody wants an Eclipse that performs well, has a million features and a great UX. Take notepad++ for example. I stopped using it because of its crappy extensions that often crash the product. This will also be the future of Brackets and Code unless they can find a way to maintain quality in their extensions??
Maybe what should happen in this "sandbox eclipse" is an extension framework that provides much better guarantee against corruption of the UX. IntelliJ is a private club. Not everyone can get in. This leads to fewer extensions but higher quality. I mean core Eclipse rocks hard. It is the half-finished extensions that depresses people. Hopefully the new language server framework will live up to its promise and maybe there should be a Marketplace that only contains high quality plugins.
Just some thoughts on your initiative.
Cheers,
Wim
