It isn't really a goalpost move though, since that is basically what i meant with my original comment. And to me the Ubuntu desktop doesn't look that much bette

It isn't really a goalpost move though, since that is basically what i meant with my original comment. And to me the Ubuntu desktop doesn't look that much better than the Etoile desktop (if anything one the most common comments i remember from the time is that it looked like "shit" due to the brown color scheme :-P), which again remember that it was never finished and had to work theme support in GNUstep - the applications of which (that are shown in screenshots) weren't even made with theming support in mind. The biggest issues that the Etoile shots have are bad text alignment and some unthemed or badly themed controls that are both results of their WIP theming efforts. Also FWIW i explicitly remember a comment from an Etoile developer that their goal with Etoile's style was to avoid the "shiny" look Aqua had at the time (and other desktop themes, like Ubuntu's Human style shown in the screenshot, had copied).