[ahartmetz]

You seem to be using the most negative expressions possible. Maybe I'm also less upset because most of the software that I use (Linux, FOSS, KDE) is less affected. I'd call it making the software look less intimidating / more approachable and more fashionable. They can both make some sense, though in many cases I also don't like it. Some fashions are objectively worse than others, like hiding scrollbars in non-touch interfaces and making interactive elements look like regular text.

IME, the ugliest software has not received much UX nor design work, and so the UX often sucks, too. Gitk comes to mind, it's very ugly and the weird diff scrolling behavior regularly gets me to where I don't want to go.