I think thats just to warn vista/7 users that it doesn't effect them.

I believe the .net versions of both scala and clojure are rarely used and not a main focus.

"And people are fleeing Java in droves. " -evidence needed.

"Tablets are a much more useable form factor in classrooms, etc."

why?

I'd imagine: Easy to store, easy to interface with, can be passed around, relatively cheap, easier software installation than some OS, don't take much desk space.

Anyone else other ideas?

Java/C# are different in that they compile to a bytecode which is like vm assembly its also not meant as a high level programming language(note that this isn't always compiled to assembly at the end as it can be interpreted, standard java for instance does both jit and interprets for best results).

"Converting programming languages really doesn't serve any purpose whatsoever" Compilers are useful. This probably won't reach production quality but that doesn't mean it couldn't with the right effort, see hip-hop or one of those x-> javascript compilers.

Try http://www.eclipsecolorthemes.org/ (note I used it with cdt and had trouble with dark color themes making some elements nearly invisible) but other then that its sorta nice

Something that legally prohibits this falls outside the definition of open source. Dual licensing with part of it not available as open source can fulfill your need although many including me somewhat dislike that and consider that against the spirit of open source. The GPL prevents people from modifying/distributing modified source without releasing the source and is highly disliked by a number of companies who would have nothing to do with it. They can still use it without distributing it like on a server without releasing changes as open source.

Doesn't happen except by all the time by primarily open source companies.

I think this is what android does, isn't it. Although android doesn't use x.