I'm going to get a lot of stick for this, but it has to be said: Mac OS X's Aqua user interface isn't the revolutionary leap forward Apple thinks it is. Believe me, I like Aqua. I didn't think I would, but it has grown on me. My initial concerns that ten years in the classic Mac OS groove would make the jump to Dock and Finder too far a leap quickly proved unfounded. To tell the truth, I even prefer it to Mac OS 9's Platinum look and feel now. Aqua is cleaner and crisper than its predecessor. But that's the trouble, all Aqua does it tart up a fundamentally unchanged UI. It's like Quake and the Quake III Arena - id's latest looks phenomenally better than the first in the series but it doesn't really play any better. Now here's the point at which I really piss off die-hard Mac fans: Aqua may look the bee's knees, but frankly, it isn't as innovative as Microsoft's upcoming Windows XP interface.
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