[jacquesm]

You could turn that argument upside-down and say that it's quite incredible they'd go so far as to create 9 custom sliders depending on the sub-part of the application you're looking at. You can't really argue that all those fit the 'standard' mac slider concept.

I think some of them could be rolled together but without knowing more about the context in which each and every one of those sliders gets used it is hard to be even sure about that.

Complex user interfaces:

http://www.sternstudio.com/HollandsGlorie.jpg

Tend to have a lot of buttons & sliders...

[baguasquirrel]

Yes, but there is similarity between the sliders in that picture you show here. When you make 9 different sliders, it distracts from the settings being modified, and directs attention towards the UI itself. This is probably one of the oldest no-nos in traditional design.

In the original example, the Color Balance and Layer Blending tools clearly should have been drawn from the same mold. Ditto for Brightness, Pencil Width, Blur Width, Layer Style: Scale.