I think it was even simpler than that: during the inflection point between GNUstep and Gnome/KDE, the mainstream market was dominated by Windows. It was clear t

I think it was even simpler than that: during the inflection point between GNUstep and Gnome/KDE, the mainstream market was dominated by Windows. It was clear that the open source community saw Windows as the yardstick for a successful Linux desktop. Whereas GNUstep was associated with an utterly failed platform. But subsequent to the NeXT buyout and as MacOS increasingly proved its geek credentials, you can see how the community yardstick has progressively shifted in its direction. Had the serious push for a Linux desktop begun ten years ago and not 25 years ago, GNUstep might well have been the victor.