I would really like to see this kind of work be done upstream. Emacs still looks the same as it did decades ago despite other editors advancing and becoming more user friendly.
replies(8):
The magic of emacs is infinite customizability. And it's quite easy for users to find and start with emacs "distributions" or "starter packs". So that's probably the best route forward.
Potential improvements:
1 Base emacs continues to make it easier to try out a bunch of configurations and switch between them, obviating solutions like chemacs
2 There's a web repository of a a variety of starter packs with screenshots and reviews and installation instructions, to help beginners find everything in one place.
3 ...