I have a love-hate relationship with XPages. It is a good RAD tool that allows you to quickly build good looking web applications based upon one of the most secure environments ever existed.
Xpages is also a good platform to develop/configure an application without having to write code all the time. The design view is something you don't have in other IDE (at least not that I know).
This is as long as you use the default controls (extension library included). And for me, that's the painpoint. Most controls are outdated and often do not comply to what people expect in a modern application (eg responsiveness, column width in data views, ...).
As Oliver mentioned: XPages are highly extensible and you could write your own components, but that makes it a lot more complex and a lot less RAD.
We can leave the development to the community, but the community is getting smaller and smaller. And without a boost, XPages won't attract new blood.
I agree with Paul: not talking about the future of Xpages does not mean Xpages is that. But on the other hand, we all know what happened to Notes/Domino when IBM was not clear about its future.
With the JAMS, IBM and HCL have the intention to listen to us. So I think it is up to us - XPage developers - to reach out to them and let them know that XPages is important to us and it is worth investing in it. Discussions like this are certainly a first step.