To be honest, OOP never really seemed like a good fit for R. Functional programming is a much more natural fit, given that both it and R come from a mathematical point of view. R is a great language for the mathematical/statistical stuff it was invented to do, but I don't think it will ever be a general-purpose language, and it probably would become worse at its core purpose if it tried to.
More work on being easily used by/incorporated into applications written in other languages, would perhaps be a more impactful thing to work on.
More work on being easily used by/incorporated into applications written in other languages, would perhaps be a more impactful thing to work on.