To me, 'Desktop' Linux has never worked because the lofty aim of projects like GNOME to secure 'everyday' users is completely at odds with many of the basic design decisions of the Linux/Unix platform that underpin it. Things like storing data in string-based-files, chaining small command-line-tools to do everything, a historically eccentric file structure, and pluralism in every-way (eg. custom built binaries on a per-machine basis) are never going to work for the 'everyday' user. You'd need to have an even bigger project than GNOME to change these design decisions (like redesigning the file structure and standardizing the hardware/software platform on which it runs, as OSX did).
That said, many of the components of GNOME (GTK, GStreamer, etc.) are great and we shouldn't forget their usefulness to other projects whilst the Gnome Desktop is coming up against these existential questions...
"Things like storing data in string-based-files, chaining small command-line-tools to do everything, a historically eccentric file structure, and pluralism in every-way (eg. custom built binaries on a per-machine basis) are never going to work for the 'everyday' user."
I'm fairly everyday user most days (LibreOffice, R via R-studio, a bit of graphics). I never see those things on Ubuntu (12.04, Unity on the laptop).
On Sundays I puggle about a bit with some python, and bodge up a few bash scripts, but that is out of interest not workflow.
Yeah, Ubuntu is much closer to what I was trying to say needs to happen to overcome these problems (as a whole distribution, not just a 'desktop environment' like GNOME), and theres a lot of hard work in there, but the issues mentioned will still cause some problems. For instance, difficulty in installing less-common software (see the giant page https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware).
That said, many of the components of GNOME (GTK, GStreamer, etc.) are great and we shouldn't forget their usefulness to other projects whilst the Gnome Desktop is coming up against these existential questions...