The idea seems to have been floating around for the past 5 years but it's never gotten much further than a solution looking for a problem.a place for users to find Joomla templates
Without knowing much more than what we've read in a few reports—the JTD team is still active—it looks like this service will complement (but sit apart from) the JED. The objective is for JTD to be realisedaround Q3 of this year (i.e. June/July 2018 onwards)
I'm not complaining but I am questioning why there is a need for a Joomla-sanctioned/approved listing of templates. We know that most of the big names in Joomla template design have their own listings, support, etc. We know that people tend to choose a template based on their experience with a certain company and those companies have invested heavily into developing template frameworks (e.g. Gantry, Warp, T3, Helix, Vertex, among others). These companies are unlikely to benefit greatly by advertising their wares on a Joomla Template Directory.
Even the smaller/boutique template developers are able to bring their products to market by advertising on the dozens of template sites that exist on the internet.
The two places where joomla.org is a leader in ensuring that third-party products meet rigorous standards are the Joomla Extensions Directory and the Vulnerable Extensions List.
Given that there are hundreds of markets for people to choose a template for their website—albeit with varying degrees of reputation—why is OSM backing a "template directory" listing idea? Is OSM suggesting, perhaps, that templates that are not listed on the JTD are not rigorous in meeting customer expectations? Are we to infer, perhaps, that if a template is not listed on the JTD then it's not safe, reliable, usable?
I'm posting this topic in the Sites & Infrastructure - Feedback/Information category because my thoughts relate to the existence of the Templates.Joomla.org - Feedback/Information category that has largely sat idle for 5 years except for the trickle of spam and the occasional "are we there yet" enquiry. Until such time as a JTD emerges from its cocoon (if that should ever happen), my suggestion is to remove the Sites & Infrastructure - Feedback/Information from the forum; its continued existence is an embarrassment.
Cheers.