[fryke]

Well. That demo shows _exactly_ what I mean. The flip-through open windows thingie, for example, is _not_ the default task switcher you use with alt-tab, rather it's something you have to "start" from the QuickLaunch part of the taskbar. It's not very useful, certainly not faster than alt-tabbing. It's eye-candy that doesn't improve working with the system. The preview you see when hovering over minimized windows in the taskbar is not very helpful either. Too small to discern similar windows. This has _nothing_ on Exposé (although that itself never shows windows of hidden apps, something I find very strange, they should add that as another option within Exposé).

Improving an UI should go about _reducing_ the UI. I don't want four ways to select the correct window. I want _one_ that does the task perfectly. If that ain't possible, the ones that are already there should be improved. But to add yet another (the flip-through thing) one without removing one it could replace... bleh. :/

The transparency of the window borders does, in my opinion, not help putting the content of a window into focus. It's something they just don't seem to get. If you have window borders that _always_ look the same, they automatically move into the back of your mind. That was _good_ in Windows 95-XP! Now you have borders that change, depending on what's behind the window, constantly irritating the mind just a little, so it actually _gets_ more focus. While I'm still not totally convinced by Apple's way (removing window borders completely apart from the title bar and scroll bars), I think it's at least a good starting point.

Again... "making everything this universal dull grey in leopard just seems half arsed to me..."

1.) They're _not_ making everything Unified. Just the already Unified apps plus the brushed metal ones. In my book, that is what they should've done when introducing Unified in the first place.

2.) "dull" is good. Monotony is one of the great principles of interface design. The focus should be on the content. It fades into the back of your mind. Adobe gets it completely right. See the interface for Adobe CS 3 apps like Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop.