[linguae]

The desktop and UI conventions are largely inspired from NeXTstep, which is from the late 1980s and was considered ahead of its time. However, there is nothing preventing the use of alternative designs. One example is the Etolie project from the late 2000s and early 2010s, which used the GNUstep API but didn't rely on NeXT-style UI conventions:

http://etoileos.com/etoile/

If GNUstep gains traction, there will almost certainly be a project to create a modern desktop. I personally like the NeXTSTEP UI, but I wouldn't mind something new.

[apple4ever]

> If GNUstep gains traction, there will almost certainly be a project to create a modern desktop.

I think that's backwards. They need to create a project for a modern desktop to gain traction.