for those of you who are tired of the antiquated and user-unfriendly mplab, here is an alternative for pic24f/pic24h and dspic programmers:

http://www.emblocks.org/

the download is the at the bottom of the page. emblocks, as its name implies, is an implementation of Code::Blocks, currently for 16bit / 32bit PICs.

it has all the features of CB, but is tailored specifically for PIC24/dsPIC/PIC32.

you still need a compiler (C30/C32 from microchip and emblocks can automatically detect them).

I have used it for the last day or so and it has been great.

enjoy.