[UIZealot]

I can't stand it either. But I think I'm beginning to understand it.

It seems that's the way it works for competition in the consumer market. Consumers respond to the coolness factor in a major way. Microsoft probably felt that they had to try to keep up.

As near perfect as Windows 2000 was, compared to Aqua it was also perfectly ...boring.

Come to think of it, XP wasn't even a bad start given the less than two years it had in development. The real tragedy is that Microsoft couldn't do any better for the next two decades. Windows 7 was worse, 8 even worse, 10? hopeless.

Maybe it's time Microsoft throw in the towel, admit that they have no taste[0], and go back to the Windows 2000 look. They lucked into it somehow, and it still holds up better than anything else they have tried.

One can always hope.

[0] https://www.cnet.com/news/steve-jobs-our-favourite-quotes/