This is a pretty great idea. For what I often deal with, the GitHub desktop client is okay (though obviously tied to GitHub), but then I was sad to also realize they don't offer it on Linux. (Maybe they assume Linux nerds don't need GUIs?)

I tried Tower when it was in beta for Windows, but the cost is too steep to justify it for me. But it seemed to be a lot more full featured than the GitHub client which isn't good for more than basic commits. And again, no Linux there either.

I'd definitely go for a solid, open source git client, and it's obviously very relevant to GitLab's business.