gnuplot versus matlab plot: a suggestion

[oxyopes]

Hi, I have a question and a suggestion.
Question: in the loop bellow, how can i plot with different point styles?

for k=1:5
    plot(k, k.^k)  # monochrome, with points
endfor

I want the first loop be plotted as '+', the 2nd as '*', the 3rd as balls etc.

Suggestion: i like gnuplot style, and i think that octave's trend to adopt
matlab plotting style is nice, but excluding gnuplot style from octave
will also unmotivate people to learn "gnuplots language", and a
co-existence of both in octave would not be harmfull.
I suggets that one can open gnuplot inside octave, loading
automatically octave variables to easily plot. This would not
need much programming work, and would help keeping gnuplot
language alive, and give the option for octave users.
Is it a silly suggestion?
I think this command __gnuplot_plot__ is not doing exactly that, is it?