Not excactly Lindows related but I still think that KDE2 reached some sort of ideal of unix desktop metaphor GUI design, and all KDE after it were sort of a regression. For similar reasons this is why I use XFCE now.
I've been using KDE since the 3.2 days, with long stints on GNOME, Unity, Windows, and macOS mixed in, and I strongly feel the same. Contemporary Plasma is really, really good.
While I agree with you (KDE user myself), I think the two primary desktops (Gnome/KDE) are serving two different purposes at this point.
Gnome seems to be catering more towards a 'hybrid' approach, easier to use with touch, laptops, simple out of box. The touchpad gestures are phenomenal and usability with portable/touch devices is really good. Wayland integration and scaling is miles ahead of KDE at the moment.
KDE is catering towards customization and traditional desktop use. There's more out-of-box features and using it on traditional desktop with keyboard and mouse make it really stand out. Their workspaces and KDE connect features are incredible.
I used them both, and think 3 was better. GNOME, on the other hand, was OK at version 1 (contemporaneous with KDE 2, which I still liked better), and went to shit at version 2 (contemporaneous with KDE 3).
I used to use KDE2 back then, I loved that you could set different Windows decorations for each Window (or is my memory tricking me?) and have a global menu bar optionally.
I did not like KDE3 as much bc they removed these features and ended up with GNOME2, and eventually MATE.
PS: I think it was GNOME 1 with the sawfish window manager. KDE2 did support theming the windows decorations, but on second thought, I don't think one could set different looks per window.
