DaveR
Yes, I'm sure that there have been lots of problems in the past with people not being able to get their head round the 'plugin' file structures required by some plugins, and so a more automated system is a welcome improvement.
However, "easier for users to find and install tools" - I would suggest that finding the tools is now NOT easier. I spent hours looking for 'solar north' and still ended up going out of SU and using the google search engine to find it - surely that says something. The system has become fragmented.
I suppose I have been using 'solar north' for so long under previous versions (before SU2013), that I had not realised that it was a plugin (or is it an 'extension'?).
David