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Fully agree. It's the same 'bubble gum' look as Windows XP. What were they thinking with those buttons and scrollbars? On the other hand, MacOS9's UI style has

Fully agree. It's the same 'bubble gum' look as Windows XP. What were they thinking with those buttons and scrollbars? On the other hand, MacOS9's UI style has aged remarkably well: https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/macos90 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/macos90 (minus the media player, ugh)

guerrilla 4y ago
I'm still waiting desperately for some DE to get back to this. GNOME 4x has in some ways but obviously not in others... Please someone re-make an OS 9-like UI for me.
- hexagonwin 4y ago
  mlvwm is available and also works on modern *nix. (worked on gnu linux and freebsd at least) https://github.com/morgant/mlvwm https://github.com/morgant/mlvwm
layer8 4y ago
Around 2000 was peak usability in terms of UI design for both MacOS and Windows.
- TimTheTinker 4y ago
  Modern macOS is remarkably usable compared to that time, especially with a few tweaks in place (Magnet app for window management, three-finger dragging, etc.) It's really easy to forget how far we've come. Going back to an old OS and trying to get some real work done can be eye-opening.
Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
I spent large parts of my life with System 7/8/9, but looking back on it now, you'd have thought Apple would have designed a better italics...
- flohofwoe 4y ago
  Hard to do on such low resolution displays where every single pixel stands out. It would have been better to avoid italics completely in most of the UI.
cmrdporcupine 4y ago
"lickable" I think was the phrase Steve Jobs used for it. Remember that Apple had just made a killing selling jelly-bean aesthetic iMacs (running classic Mac OS 9, even). The Aqua stuff matched the physical case design of those machines. It all goes along with the late 90s / Y2K times, intense colours. "Run Lola Run" and Fifth Element and late 90s club culture and whatnot. Nothing restrained about that era in terms of style. It was boom times end-of-millennium and that aesthetic continued even for a bit after the .com crash and 9/11 deflated the tires. Also as others have pointed out, it had to do with "we can do this now'; the graphics hardware and the software stack (showing off "Quartz" etc)
robinsonb5 4y ago
Funnily enough I was playing with a couple of old PowerMac G4s a couple of weeks ago (actually wiping them for disposal - though I've since decided to keep at least one!) I realised very quickly that I'd forgotten how good the OS9 interface is, and how well it stands up against today's offerings. Trying out a lookalike theme on Linux [1] is definitely on my todo list: [1] https://github.com/grassmunk/Platinum9 https://github.com/grassmunk/Platinum9

guerrilla 4y ago

I'm still waiting desperately for some DE to get back to this. GNOME 4x has in some ways but obviously not in others... Please someone re-make an OS 9-like UI for me.

hexagonwin 4y ago
mlvwm is available and also works on modern *nix. (worked on gnu linux and freebsd at least) https://github.com/morgant/mlvwm https://github.com/morgant/mlvwm

layer8 4y ago

Around 2000 was peak usability in terms of UI design for both MacOS and Windows.

TimTheTinker 4y ago
Modern macOS is remarkably usable compared to that time, especially with a few tweaks in place (Magnet app for window management, three-finger dragging, etc.) It's really easy to forget how far we've come. Going back to an old OS and trying to get some real work done can be eye-opening.

Doctor_Fegg 4y ago

I spent large parts of my life with System 7/8/9, but looking back on it now, you'd have thought Apple would have designed a better italics...

flohofwoe 4y ago
Hard to do on such low resolution displays where every single pixel stands out. It would have been better to avoid italics completely in most of the UI.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago

"lickable" I think was the phrase Steve Jobs used for it. Remember that Apple had just made a killing selling jelly-bean aesthetic iMacs (running classic Mac OS 9, even). The Aqua stuff matched the physical case design of those machines. It all goes along with the late 90s / Y2K times, intense colours. "Run Lola Run" and Fifth Element and late 90s club culture and whatnot. Nothing restrained about that era in terms of style. It was boom times end-of-millennium and that aesthetic continued even for a bit after the .com crash and 9/11 deflated the tires. Also as others have pointed out, it had to do with "we can do this now'; the graphics hardware and the software stack (showing off "Quartz" etc)

robinsonb5 4y ago

Funnily enough I was playing with a couple of old PowerMac G4s a couple of weeks ago (actually wiping them for disposal - though I've since decided to keep at least one!) I realised very quickly that I'd forgotten how good the OS9 interface is, and how well it stands up against today's offerings. Trying out a lookalike theme on Linux [1] is definitely on my todo list: [1] https://github.com/grassmunk/Platinum9 https://github.com/grassmunk/Platinum9