I think you mean either 2.5 or 2.8. 2.49 was the last one with the really inscrutable old UI, 2.5 was a big overhaul but still had a lot of basic functionality

I think you mean either 2.5 or 2.8. 2.49 was the last one with the really inscrutable old UI, 2.5 was a big overhaul but still had a lot of basic functionality buried behind hotkeys or menus, and 2.8 is the relatively recent one with a lot of that basic functionality exposed. I don't follow the blender development process too closely, but I think Blender Guru's videos kicked off a lot of the 2.8 design work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWacQrEcMHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWacQrEcMHk Along with lots of discussion elsewhere as the actual redesign was underway https://devtalk.blender.org/t/blender-2-8-user-interface-design/505 https://devtalk.blender.org/t/blender-2-8-user-interface-des...