IDK, I like it, I would be one of those people that would complain about the 90's look if they didn't do this every now and then. But, people like you are ok with desktops like XFCE I guess, I like trying new paradigms, see what works, change what doesn't. I enjoy the occasional refresh in look and feel. Actually I think people like you are a minority, the majority just continues to enjoy evolutionary steps in design and never complains.
Yea, I fucking love Xfce. Its been the SAME for over a decade. I can't remember the last time they did some crazy/stupid UI/UX shit.
The most recent change was GTK driven, where the buttons on common-file dialog moved to the top. But, it hit every app at once so the relearn was abrupt but short. And it was only one thing. Not a frustrating batch of a dozen inconsistent half-baked "tweaks"
The number one complaint I get from non-technical people using computers is "This doesn't look like it used to, I don't know how to do anything anymore."
This is what happens when you have UX designers as full-time employees. They need some sort of grand project to work on. Same thing happened with reddit.
I would point out that "the UX community" is no more a monolith than "the developer community" -- many UX designers do not spend their time chasing the latest UI fads and adding novelty for its own sake.
UX and designers don’t initiate changes. That is driven by product managers who define features, ask for new designs, review options and choose the final design.
The same can be said for developers. Few devs can just make arbitrary changes to an application. They take requirements, produce implementations, and go through review and revision.
I guess it's unsurprising that UX designers would want to continue having work to do.