> However, parts of me miss the Apple of the 1980s and 1990s, where the engineers and researchers there explored ideas of how to make personal computing better. I feel that the personal computing experience for desktops have been stuck in a rut for nearly 20 years, with some aspects actually degrading rather than improving.

I totally agree with this, and think it's an incredibly important issue.

If you post anything public about your Lisp-based DE please feel free to let me know (email in profile).