{"slug": "gershwin", "name": "Gershwin", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 6, "warners": 0, "score": 5.023, "rising": -1.96, "first": "2026-01-04", "latest": "2026-03-19", "why": "It looks really cool for those Apple folk among us", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 4, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "It looks really cool for those Apple folk among us", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop", "official_url": "https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Gershwin", "Gershwin Desktop", "Gershwin-desktop"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 759188785, "item_id": 47449299, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47449299", "by": "linguae", "date": "2026-03-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the dream is not dead", "excerpt": "I remember when I first learned about GNUstep in 2004 when I was in high school. It's a shame GNUstep never took off; we could have had an ecosystem of applications that could run on both macOS and Linux using native GUIs. With that said, the dream is not dead. There's a project named Gershwin (https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop), which is a Mac-like desktop environment built on top of GNUstep. Gers", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 750485729, "item_id": 46905358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46905358", "by": "nazgulsenpai", "date": "2026-02-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It looks really cool for those Apple folk among us", "excerpt": "I haven't checked out GhostBSD's site in a while, and saw they had a version with a DE called \"Gershwin\" I've never heard of before. It looks really cool for those Apple folk among us https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "150 MB Minimal FreeBSD Installation"}, {"id": 745293856, "item_id": 46580866, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46580866", "by": "elcritch", "date": "2026-01-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm hoping something like this takes off on FreeBSD", "excerpt": "I'm hoping something like this takes off on FreeBSD: https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop I've only owned macbook laptops but have run Linux at work since 2002. The lack of cohesion and non-stop changes in Linux is just as tiring and this MacOS Tahoe stuff. Gnome 3 cared just as little for users. FreeBSD + KDE Plasma is pretty good now, but lacks feeling and design.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 743905169, "item_id": 46494073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46494073", "by": "malco_2001", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gershwin will catch up so to speak", "excerpt": "I used elementary the past and appreciated the visual design. It just never went far enough for me by not having global menus, application bundles, etc. I think given a little more time here this year Gershwin will catch up so to speak. Then we will have not only how it looks, how it is designed, how it operates, how it runs on nearly anything, cross platform support, etc. I recently began porting Ladybird from QT to", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}, {"id": 743796176, "item_id": 46487261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46487261", "by": "rcarmo", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I LOVE this.", "excerpt": "I LOVE this. There were a few other similar projects a few years back but they all seem to have stalled - hopefully this one will keep going", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "vintagedave", "context": "Misses the OSX UX era", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46486812", "date": "2026-01-04"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["os x-like desktop environment"], "compared": [{"slug": "gnustep", "name": "GNUstep", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 743899824, "item_id": 46493739, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46493739", "by": "malco_2001", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We do largely operate outside of GNUstep.", "excerpt": "Apologies I am not familiar with how to quote back here. I'll just try to stay in order. I think that is a great suggestion to try to document the history of how Gershwin came to be. I'll put some thought into how to do that soon. We do largely operate outside of GNUstep. Now we approach it like let us be the desktop, let them be the core libs. My take is I do think GNUstep should be marketed as more of a cross platf", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46484662", "title": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47448328", "title": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46841897", "title": "150 MB Minimal FreeBSD Installation", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579864", "title": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 4}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "quotes": [{"id": 759188785, "item_id": 47449299, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47449299", "by": "linguae", "date": "2026-03-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the dream is not dead", "excerpt": "I remember when I first learned about GNUstep in 2004 when I was in high school. It's a shame GNUstep never took off; we could have had an ecosystem of applications that could run on both macOS and Linux using native GUIs. With that said, the dream is not dead. There's a project named Gershwin (https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop), which is a Mac-like desktop environment built on top of GNUstep. Gers", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 750485729, "item_id": 46905358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46905358", "by": "nazgulsenpai", "date": "2026-02-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It looks really cool for those Apple folk among us", "excerpt": "I haven't checked out GhostBSD's site in a while, and saw they had a version with a DE called \"Gershwin\" I've never heard of before. It looks really cool for those Apple folk among us https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "150 MB Minimal FreeBSD Installation"}, {"id": 745293856, "item_id": 46580866, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46580866", "by": "elcritch", "date": "2026-01-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm hoping something like this takes off on FreeBSD", "excerpt": "I'm hoping something like this takes off on FreeBSD: https://github.com/gershwin-desktop/gershwin-desktop I've only owned macbook laptops but have run Linux at work since 2002. The lack of cohesion and non-stop changes in Linux is just as tiring and this MacOS Tahoe stuff. Gnome 3 cared just as little for users. FreeBSD + KDE Plasma is pretty good now, but lacks feeling and design.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 743905169, "item_id": 46494073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46494073", "by": "malco_2001", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gershwin will catch up so to speak", "excerpt": "I used elementary the past and appreciated the visual design. It just never went far enough for me by not having global menus, application bundles, etc. I think given a little more time here this year Gershwin will catch up so to speak. Then we will have not only how it looks, how it is designed, how it operates, how it runs on nearly anything, cross platform support, etc. I recently began porting Ladybird from QT to", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}, {"id": 743798784, "item_id": 46487424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46487424", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> There were a few other similar projects a few years back Notably the Hello System, by Simon Peter, AKA probonopd. I looked at that, too. https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/hellosystem_08/ Probonopd is now involved with Gershwin and was quite active in its Github when I looked.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}, {"id": 743796176, "item_id": 46487261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46487261", "by": "rcarmo", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I LOVE this.", "excerpt": "I LOVE this. There were a few other similar projects a few years back but they all seem to have stalled - hopefully this one will keep going", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}, {"id": 743790736, "item_id": 46486921, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46486921", "by": "vintagedave", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is pretty exciting!", "excerpt": "Looks like the Finder layout is inherited and may change: https://github.com/orgs/gershwin-desktop/discussions/8 This is pretty exciting!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}, {"id": 743788992, "item_id": 46486812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46486812", "by": "vintagedave", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love this.", "excerpt": "I love this. I deeply miss the productive, well-built UX era of OSX. The screenshot shows a mix of styles. Some of it looks very old (eg the Finder analogue). Scrollbars are flat, traffic light window buttons are gel. Semi-puzzling so far in terms of UI design target. I found this: 10.2-era, pre-Brushed Metal, seems to be the target: https://github.com/orgs/gershwin-desktop/discussions/1", "context": "Misses the OSX UX era", "use_case": "OS X-like desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gershwin-desktop: OS X-like Desktop Environment based on GNUStep"}]}