[happymellon]

> windows 98 / windows 2000 / snow leopard

I don't know if I would group those together. Windows 98/2k were visually similar, but OSX by that point was looking quite refined.

It had toned down the blue, but still had some visual flare.

95/98/2k had a very utility appearance. Just compare the recycle bins between each to see how much more effort went into OSX look and feel.

[BoxOfRain]

My favourite OSX in terms of visual design was the Panther/Tiger era personally. Leopard looked good, but there was something really cheerful and friendly about Tiger. The iPods of those days were also really well thought-out in my opinion.

Definitely a world apart from the utilitarian Windows 98 UI.

[happymellon]

And personally I preferred the XP/Vista era, having search was so much better than not.

However, that just shows how far behind Windows was. Spotlight was much better.