Yes, it seems pretty easy to reuse java development using this approach. My thinking is that pretty much any java application could be integrated into AOLserver without too much trouble. To make it really useful, it would be desirable for nsjava to have a servlet interface similar to what is implemented in nstomcat. That way aolserver and tomcat could share the same port, and the integration would be tighter instead of the current approach of running two web servers side-by-side on different ports. One caveat though, is that nsjava has never, to my knowledge, been used in a production environment. I'm glad to support it, but my time is limited, so I wouldn't currently bet the farm on this approach until nsjava has been proved out further.
For my day job, I use Clearcase for version control and it works as you describe. On Unix, I create a view definition for the particular branch that I want to work on, and from then on it looks like a regular shell interface. So I can use bash to see my files in version control, and I can edit them using any text editor - very nice. On windows, the clearcase views just show up as a regular folder. The views are shared between both environments, so I have a common view regardless of where I'm working. Clearcase is expensive and a bear to adminstrate, but well worth it for large projects. I think using webdav to create a clearcase type interface to the CR would be awesome.
