[bad_good_guy]

> What does one have to do to get as ... pretty of a UI

Are you being intentionally disingenuous? It is objectively not a pretty UI, it's a functional but quite ugly one.

[masswerk]

I think, this is a rather relative statement. Modern UIs would have been perceived as toy-like and not fit for business back then. It all comes down to what we are used to. (That said, personally, I always favoured the System 7 UI over OS 8.)

[marssaxman]

Ugliness and prettiness are inherently subjective concepts. There can be no such thing as "objectively not a pretty UI"!

[toephu2]

I think it's quite subjective actually. I like the UI.

"beauty is in the eye of the beholder"