Litestep is dying because people are getting dumber.
Simple.
The vast majority of the people on the net are so ridiculously incredibly stupid it makes me want to cry.
So we need to think about these people.
At the moment, litestep is really a hackers gui for windows. When I say Hacker, I mean the true definition, not l33t hax0r st33ls j00r d@torz stuff.
It isnt user friendly to install, or config, or customise. Same as linux really. But once you are done with all that, it is a truly wonderful experience and you CANT GO BACK TO WINDOZE.
Austerity is an old theme which does not show off the potential of litestep at all, and by potential of litestep i mean xmodules.
For litesteps next major major release, I think it needs a few things to appeal to the stupid masses.

1: Integration of paintclass and statsclass into the core.
2: Latest versions of the xmodules included with the installer.
3: A new, simple to use, slick, but different default theme (dont look at me my themes are crazy... perhaps a few of the elite themers should get together and design a new default theme)
which brings me to 4...
4: Multiple themes to use in the installer.
5: Perhaps bundle a uxtheme multi patcher into litestep, or even have a memory patcher built into it, for all the R E T A R D S who keep asking about it. Then, themes could also have the option of including a visual style directory in their theme to auto apply it.
6: A desktop properties menu at the bottom of the default popup (no brainer)
7: A small, short (or the idiots will get bored) readme that pops up for firstrun of litestep.

Feel free to add items to the list if you have an idea.
-Ash