Before responding, I want to point out that I'm not a Mylyn Docs committer. I'm just offering my thoughts for consideration.
I don't feel strongly about this decision but I do question some of the claimed benefits:
* easier to contribute (e.g. without knowledge of OSGi or PDE)
I would argue that most contributions don't actually require any knowledge of OSGi or PDE. For larger contributions, the knowledge required is usually just how to add dependencies to a manifest, which shouldn't be an obstacle for someone invested enough to make a large contribution.
* better structured code/tests (e.g. using normal Maven project layout)
I don't think that following a different convention is "better," just different.
* faster cycle time (e.g. easier to verify code changes, faster builds)
Is there any data to support this? This should be weighed against the increased friction of needing to run a maven build when debugging. It seems to me that this will affect all development on WikiText, not just UI development.
Is there a way to have the best of both worlds by enabling the core to be built using either Maven or PDE? This would probably add a little maintenance cost but the smoother development workflow might be worth it.
Cheers,
Sam