[smoldesu]

Pop is still building on top of GNOME for COSMIC, they're just re-writing significant portions of the code to create an original desktop. Honestly, I think this was the right move. The community needs a central GNOME fork to tinker on, and Pop can be the catalyst for those developments if they play their cards right.

[akagusu]

I agree the community needs a GNOME fork that serves the needs of the community and it could be feasible if System76 managed to bring other communities that build on top of GNOME like Cinnamon and Budgie, but this "re-writing significant portions" on their own without bring others is doomed.

Canonical already tried this with Unity8 and failed in a time they had much more popularity and community support than System76.