A bright fellow has written an article about preventing Linux desktop becoming a Windows clone - it is here.
I have been thinking the same thing (and no - that's not to put me in the same category as the bright fellow). There is a thread somewhere here in LQ with people posting screenshots of their desktop; and most of these have been heavily modified. Quite possibly, these people would have made modifications to a Windows desktop, too, but hardly to this extent.
It is an interesting trend and an interesting line of thought for the people who put the distros together.

mhm, diffidently don't want windows clones, desktops should be made to make sense and be efficient for the people that use it, thus why theres no single desktop environment, or look in linux, . if people feel good in windows like environment, let them have it, but just don't clone windows, cause that will take a long long time, i mean it will require adding lines in the kernel to make it randomly hang ....

How about this desktop:

http://www.xpde.com/

Well, I do, agree that an unified desktop for Linux would be nice, but I found myself jumping from one desktop to another from time to time... kde, gnome, xfce4, flux, blackbox... It's more like a state of spirit for me really

Although I (almost) exlusively use Sawfish, I actually have a ridiculous number of Window Managers installed (including XPDE). It is not that I like to chop-and-change my environment lots, it is that I like to see what developments are going on in others. I never know, I may find something I prefer

But, I am undecided on the "copying Windows" front. One part of me says "Nooooo! Why would anyone want to do such a daft thing", another part of me totally understand why. And it is the same reason that many people try to imitate the Mac OS X environment: Familiarity. And that is no bad thing, either. As a general rule, "people" do not like change. Or at least, they do not like sudden change. So, give them an environment that is very similar, but not identical, and allow them to experiment over time. They will all learn soon enough just how limited their Windows experiences were. I tend to think of these Windows-alikes as being spring boards from which people can choose to either dive off, or simply sit on the edge of with their toes in the waters.

£0.02

I think it's part of the whole trend to try to 'dumb down' some linux distros for newbies. Which I still don't entirely get.
That's because there's not a lot you can do with Windows... or at least not with my oh-so-slick pre-Linux Win98 box. Couldn't change the icons, only color choices were crappy and you think there was an option to change the window manager? Given the opportunity, I'm sure many take advantage of what's availible. Were it availible on a Win box I'm sure there would be many a modded desktop with that also.

Trinity
(if none of that made sense, my apologies, it's past my bedtime)

For me, being able to show a *somewhat* familiar desktop environment to Win users has enabled me to make a couple of converts to Linux.

The CLI is very intimidating to the average user here in Thailand, esp since English is a second language, but when I've shown that you can (almost always) get by with "a point and click" people have been impressed.

So, IMH(umble)O, a slick GUI is a benefit to Linux, especially if it is to make progress onto home users PC's.

The CLI will always be there for all you experts and us wannabees

english is my native language and the CLI is not even close to being english it is a computer language in it's own right
there a lot of people working on translating the documentation in to just about every language

BUT dose it really matter that some people like look and feel of windblows if thats what they want let them have it Myself I really like the CLI ,Gnome and kde these aren't going away any time soon as long as I can have my computer my way it dosen't matter to me how you have your computer