> How does it help users to all of a sudden have most apps feel ancient? It helps users in that the "new design" is an improvement over the "old design". A ca

> How does it help users to all of a sudden have most apps feel ancient? It helps users in that the "new design" is an improvement over the "old design". A case study, the Windows file picker dialog: Win3.1 dialogs felt foreign to 95, while XP-style apps feel foreign to Vista-style apps. There is no debate that from win3 to win7 the file picker dialog got improved each time. Easier item selection, easier reading, easier tree traversal, quicker arrival to favorites... What is true for this dialog is true for the whole system. rundll32 tabbed preference panes survive in Win8 to this day. They felt like they came from the future back then on win95, while today they're old and crufty, alien and inscrutable. This is not change for the sake of change. Design is how it works. Good design is thorough and holistic. If you only improve part of the system, you end up with a hodgepodge of UI versions with no conventions across the board and only results in an overall bad usability and maintainability.