I don't see what is wrong with the appearance of LibreOffice. Maybe, is doesn't pick up some themes. I just keep the default kde and lxde desktop themes and I don't notice any problems.
As far as the direction of the libreoffice developers. They have done a fantastic job at improving the software suite in a relatively short time. Not very long ago, it took over 1 minute to start the program, now a cold start takes 12-14 seconds on the same machine. It is only 2-3 seconds after that, even with a slow 5400 rpm drive. This is because they are not just looking at features, but also cleaning the code base. But, instead of starting from scratch, they are keeping all of the existing features, adding new features, fixing bugs and cleaning the code all at the same time. Openoffice and Lotus Symphony maybe adding a slightly different set of features and priorities, but I suspect that in 5 years LibreOffice will be the only one still going strong.
Galen
