You write as if you assumed that people back then did not care for aesthetics at all. But they did, quite a lot actually. Those designers just happened to be lu

You write as if you assumed that people back then did not care for aesthetics at all. But they did, quite a lot actually. Those designers just happened to be lucky to be working in an era when any novelty desires they or anyone in the audience had could be perfectly satisfied just by using the possibilities of then-latest technology. Very much unlike these days, inn which novelty is limited to details and subtleties unless they force it in destructive ways. Which apparently "they" really like to do, and get the reaction they deserve. And while we are into ending a post with random opinion statements, yes, 2k was the pinnacle of Windows design.