As to the KDE icons, licensing of artwork has always been a problem. Gnome's identity is largely based on its graphics. Using KDE's icons would mean giving up a lot of our identity. Code reuse is good. Not invented here syndrome is bad.
Free software is about reputation.
Forking off some code and letting it rust without maintenance will hurt the project that you forked it off. Code reuse is good if you use a ready-made product and if you keep up with its changes. Of course, forking code may be necessary in an emergency, but this is not an emergency. The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies.