It looks like making applications that can have plugins starting to catch on. But I really didn't get much feedback on my Extensibility Application Block - which enables exactly this. Perhaps I should have renamed it to Plugins Application Block? Anyway, Both Julie and Brady have written about using a pluggable framework do do various useful stuff.
I do see this area as mostly untouched in the .Net world so here are a few links that talk about this(first 3 are mine):
- Extensibility Application Block
- Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism
- Add run-time functionality to your application part II: Dynamic search and load DLLS
- AppDomains and Dynamic Loading(MSDN)
- Create a Flexible Dynamic plugin framework
- Let Users Add Functionality to Your .NET Applications with Macros and Plug-Ins(MSDN)
- Creating an Extensible User Interface with .NET, Part 1
- Creating an Extensible User Interface with .NET, Part 2