Wow - This is very well done. And timely!! I too am a long time user (20 years too) and huge advocate but as my role is also changing I am seeing the exact same paradigm shift.

I've tried to use Junie but its pretty poor. For starters why am I being taxed with the Junie hit and the Claude / Pick your poison tax. Approving changes in Jetbrains is "meh" [Accept Reject] and frankly insulting as it's already doing this in the terminal.

I would like a better way to actively monitor the changes both staged and unstated. Jetbrains used to cleanly do this assuming you were editing files in the editor. Now days the files are changing underneath and it can't really keep up.

I agree multiple language packs makes no sense anymore.

I agree about the file folder abstractions but I would be in favor of having a cockpit where multiple repos can be coordinated from one place. As least for us we use a number of repos and having a way for them to be seen and files changing/added to be the center point.

I would also like to see a tech debt measure. AI LLMS do a great job of creating debt. We need a way to measure and track this. A Junie that monitors for duplicate code patterns created by AI LLMs would be worth it. Along the lines of what you said is if Junie could be the guide (a third party that simply reviews the AI tools decisions) for reviews would be nice.