[k310]

Two factors in play, IMO.

1. The hubris of big companies deciding that they know what you want better than you do. I used to chide Microsoft, not that they were listening, that their motto was "We will optimize you (if you change your life to do things our way)", like the ubiquitous "Excel as a database." Only a visionary can anticipate your needs, and Steve Jobs is gone.

2. Change for the sake of change. Compare with the crazy expensive yearly cosmetic (if not comedic) changes in auto styling.

3 (of two). Well, you know that they're greasing the skids for some secret unified watch, computer, phone, AR, OS to run the world. But can't tell you because your future is a secret that we can't share with you, and most assuredly won't ask you about.

4 (of two) The only sane future is Free and Open Source, where people outside the castle have nonzero say.

[bruce511]

I'd suggest that Open Source just defines the castle differently. People outside the castle have no say.

I'd also suggest that OS UI's are almost (but not quite) universally horrible. In most cases OS is about functionality, not astheics. There are good looking OS projects, but they are rare. And most often just a clone of a good looking commercial system.

I get that lots of people would love to return yo Windows XP styling (or whatever your favorite era was) but interestingly, looking back, I see that software as unbearably ugly.

So yes, moving forward means making mistakes. But not moving at all is, IMO, worse.

[skydhash]

> but interestingly, looking back, I see that software as unbearably ugly.

I would love software to be ugly again. So that companies can focus on building features instead of animations and other gimmicks. Collect customer feedback and build useful features instead of endlessly twiddling with knobs and adjusting settings everyone was fine with.

[k310]

No liquid glass? Weren't crowds surrounding the Apple spaceship demanding it?

As an optics person, I just have to chortle every time I hear that.

If glass has any liquidity after cooling, it's unobservable [0] (Note, it deforms, but that's not liquidity.)

> Window glass at room temperature has a nearly incalculable relaxation time, approaching the age of the universe itself.

More on point, Apple does drive me crazy when it changes things. The level of "How the hell do I do this?" is off scale. That used to be RTFM, when there were manuals and geeks who read them. I just found the color picker in Preview app. Features are like Easter Eggs, when so many are crammed into an app's window.

It feels like every app other than Preview app has a floating font/style menu. To change the font size, color, etc., you have to pull it down repeatedly. .... Oh well .....

I use it to do quick image hacks, rather than fire up GIMP. (did someone change the default behavior of layers in GIMP? I used to just edit stuff, and then had to merge down every time, until I (ta-da) found the layers window (in the Windows menu)) Oh well ...

[0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-glass-really-a...

[rtcoms]

I have different take on this, with AI coming into mobile interface, the context about what is present on the screen becomes important, user will like to know what is present on the screen and verify answers from AI frequently.

Liquid glass UI with transparency may allow user to keep that context without completely putting AI user interface aside.

[JustExAWS]

Yes because open source software has always been a paragon of not only great user experience, but has always focused on what the end user wants instead of making tradeoffs in the name of some geek purity test - see PinePhone, Framework laptops, etc. - yes I know they aren’t open source software. But they do have the same ethos.