What is Apple thinking? That megalomaniac Steve Jobs obviously decided the application-menu-icon option didn't fit his personal aesthetics. This shows a blatant disregard for long-time Public Beta users who have invested dozens of hours in developing the muscle memory necessary to make efficient use of an icon-centric application menu. All wasted!
Bruce Tognazzini is right. It's obvious that since he left, GUI design has become a lost art at Apple. But that's simply because he's the only one who truly understands it. Just <a href="http://www.asktog.com/">ask him</a>!
I've had it with Apple. OS X PB was a great operating system, and that effete snob Jobs has ruined it. As soon as my beta expires, I'm giving my G3 away to the first poor sucker who's dumb enough to take it and buying a Windows System. The Start menu isn't as good as the application menu with an icon, but it's a helluva a lot closer to it than what we've got with OS X final.
Good bye PB. (Sniff) I'll miss you.