You are absolutely right about the benefits of mimicking existing UI paradigms. It saves so much time already knowing basically how I want things to look and work. And not having to worry as much about resources as people did in the past is a huge load off. (Although I do all my development with 128MB of RAM or less, because I enjoy that sort of challenge..)
Serenity is an unapologetic remix/mash-up of all the things I like in software. Not just visually, but also code-wise. If you look into the sources, you'll find C++ heavily inspired by Qt and WebKit.
The point is that the device with 2KB RAM is a single-purpose embedded controller, and the device with 4MB RAM used to be a full-blown universal desktop daily productivity machine.
Well, the first computer on which I wrote programs was a ZX-81[1]. The 486 DX4-75[2] with 4 Mb memory, however, helped me learn C using DJGPP and later build my first Linux kernel (on Debian 1.1), browse Gopher and WWW sites, read newsgroups, play with Cello[3]. I also wrote first versions of my economics experiments on it. Later, I upgraded to Windows 95 from Windows 3.11 WfW so I could have a decent Java experience.
I don't think I have much of a point except that you could do development on that machine in relatively modern ways in a way I could never imagine on a ZX-81 or ZX Spectrum.
Anything is possible! It would take quite a lot of work to bring up a Qt port, so it's not really a priority right now as there are many other important things that need attention. But some day.
Serenity is an unapologetic remix/mash-up of all the things I like in software. Not just visually, but also code-wise. If you look into the sources, you'll find C++ heavily inspired by Qt and WebKit.