Personally, I enjoy using Aqua because I like eye candy, but I really don't mind using Platinum. Considering only my iMac has X and most of the stuff on it runs better in 9 anyway (plus the hole in my Classic environment), I rarely boot into X anymore. However, I still enjoy all the gadgets, widgets, and the power and scalability of the new OS. I do think the Dock has some good uses, but it needs serious improvements before it becomes fully mature, like a way to determine what application is currently active.
I believe Apple should add something to their X installer: an option to install a basic GUI or a more powerful, resource-consuming one. My little iMac feels like The Little Engine That Could trying to pull an 80-car freight train through the Rockies; we should give it a little caboose instead, and give those freight cars to a big engine that can handle them, in other words make a version of X that works quickly and efficiently on systems with less than X Mhz, Y MB RAM and Z MB video memory, and splurge on extras for the big guns.
What Apple should really do is open up a forum for their Loyal Devoted Power Users, etc. to submit ideas for a new look (much like
Renderosity is doing right now) and let people vote on what they like best. If we the people vote for the faux wood panels and gold trim, then that's what the new UI (no longer to be called Aqua after that, for obvious reasons) will look like. If we vote for the science-project-gone-awry with roaches and critters in every corner, widget and desktop, so be it. Apple should do what Microsoft never will: allow its reason for existence to have a hand in its evolution.