Yeah, the Emacs UI is definitely a bit lacking. It could be greatly improved if they embraced Gtk a bit more. Especially if some widgets could be handled from elisp. But what it lacks in polish, it often makes up with usability, once you are a more advanced user. And of course, the sky is the limit for customizability.
I haven't used the recent versions of ACL and LW, so I cannot make a direct comparison, but for the experienced user, Emacs offers a lot of productivity.
It escapes me, what this has to do with my comment. That was directed at the Emacs development in general. It is based on Gtk, but doesn't fully embrace it, still limiting itself to mostly a terminal emulation.
I haven't used the recent versions of ACL and LW, so I cannot make a direct comparison, but for the experienced user, Emacs offers a lot of productivity.