Not only is there some utility in skeuomorphs (to borrow another poster's reference), but they also excite the imagination. I've heard the opposite critique of

Not only is there some utility in skeuomorphs (to borrow another poster's reference), but they also excite the imagination. I've heard the opposite critique of iOS widgets, that their flaw is mimicking machine-panels rather than something else, more fantastic. That is part of the appeal of Windows Phone 7: that it looks like the panel of some device a bit further in the future. As a friend says, "realism is the last refuge of a dwindling imagination".