While I agree that animation is one very effective way to enhance user interaction [1], I don't believe that simply upping the pixel count or adding 3d visuals

While I agree that animation is one very effective way to enhance user interaction [1], I don't believe that simply upping the pixel count or adding 3d visuals will make interfaces that much better. Compared to the late 90s, our current OSes focus an insane amount of their resources on eye candy. The newest UI fads (3d window switching, etc.) would make a windows 95 or Mac OS 9 user's head spin. Have they made the interaction metaphor better? Somewhat, but at nowhere near the pace of almost any other computer-related field. I think that the main thrust of the article is that there is a limit to the advantages to be gained from simple graphics acceleration, and we are quickly approaching it. We need a new paradigm, otherwise we'll just continue languishing in a world where menu chains (edit->tools->filters...) and "ribbons" (i.e. MS Office) are the norm. [1]http://watchingapple.com/2008/04/animation-from-cartoons-to-the-user-interface/ http://watchingapple.com/2008/04/animation-from-cartoons-to-...