Sadly, this feels like Google's approach to product management: change for the sake of change, driven behind the scenes by people chasing being noticed or their next promotion rather than by need and good sense, and (likely due to politics and power structures) no-one in a position to say "hold on, this doesn't work".

I'm generally no fan of Steve Jobs, but what he did offer was a single point of (dictatorial) good taste, and a willingness to stamp on bad ideas. Unfortunately, it's exceptionally rare in modern business that you have someone (who is allowed to be) in such a position of power to act dictatorially when needed, and who also has the right set of taste/experience/knowledge such that their decisions are on balance more usually good ones. CEOs are far more usually MBA drones than product people, and it doesn't appear that we've figured out a way to 'scale' taste and good decision-making throughout an organisation in a reliable manner.

Constant tweaks for the sake of justifying jobs when, finally, the essential functionality is broken so that someone else can fix it in a different way next year. Churn-oriented UX and swe. I already set Settings > Accessibility > Display > Reduce transparency to On to proactively refuse to participate in this pointless UI glitter.

This whitewashing and hiding of everything essential is similar to Le Corbusier's aesthetics. He stripped buildings facades of any aesthetical elements, even pure geometrical ones, because he had some mental condition, that complex things bothered him.

The same in the computer UIs has been going on for last ~15 years. Astonishingly it's the company that boasts usability/ergonomics that does it. And sadly, every desktop out there (KDE, MATE, Gnome) does its best to imitate Mac OS.

I wonder if anyone in this part of "tech" industry does any sort of measurements of what they produce.

I've recently been given a Mac laptop at job (they refuse to support Linux), and the Finder UI is terrible exactly as the author describes.

The macOS 26 screenshots all look profoundly amateurish to me. And I say this as a continuous user of this operating system since 2001, when I installed Mac OS X Public Beta on my iBook G3. I really hope Apple spends the next few months before release focused on making their new visual language usable.

From another of Mori's articles [1], where he quotes another source:

Something IS indeed rotten in the State of Cupertino, but that rot is not new. To me, it feels like the Apple Intelligence fiasco is the accumulation of Apple’s software failures over the past 10–15 years finally coming to a head. They are just not very good at making software anymore.

Just not good at making software any more. There is ample evidence over the last several years that makes this conclusion inescapable.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43375768

Article mention the "disappearing UI elements" mania that has tortured so many UIs.

I absolutely loathe and detest the hidden-scroll-bar convention that is now de rigour

Among other things, Bosch manufactures washing machines, dishwashers, and microwave ovens — why do their interfaces differ? They’re all appliances made by the same brand! Because they have different purposes and you use them in different ways.

Actually, as an owner of both a washer/dryer and a dishwasher from the Bosch “Serie 6” range, this makes the opposite point intended. The interfaces are bafflingly, irritatingly different for no good reason, and would really have benefited from some central alignment on UX patterns.

I don't even use iphone but screenshots feel like ai-generated images, artifacts, extra limbs, missing limbs and general wtf-ness

Apple stopped being cool. Looked too corporate and professional. Looked like "work". Author even makes the point: "how are you supposed to work for many hours on this?"

This is their redesigning for the Alpha generation, the brainrot generation.

Making it inconsistent and hard to read is exactly the point. That's the new aesthetic.

The most startling thing for me is that it just looks terrible. I cannot understand how anyone in the process looked at these screens and went "Yes".

The points about visual hierarchy are spot on, in particular on macOS. I think Apple has two realistic paths forward to resolve this mess:

1. Double down on the aesthetic and gradually redesign apps to improve the hierarchy. That would mean adapting UX across countless apps to serve the new look.

2. Tone down the glass effects and shadows drastically. Preserve existing app layouts without compromising usability as much. We'll be left with shimmering buttons and panels, a bit more blurred transparency than in the 'current' design language.

My guess is they will end up choosing option 2, simply because it’s cheaper.

I don’t understand how a company that has effectively defined modern interfaces, which has the clout to hire the best of the best, has resulted in this.

I fear the apple is starting to rot on the inside.

The amusing thing about all these pseudo 3D interfaces is that real 3D interfaces for CAD and graphics programs are much cleaner, because the real content can be cluttered.

So to sum it up, a user (or let's be real, a consumer) has three choices for a desktop / laptop:

- an ad-ridden, privacy invading hellhole that goes for "flat design" even worse than macOS's newest iteration (Windows 11), with machines mostly built out of cheap plastic, with the hardware being inadequately cooled and built on a CPU architecture that leads to guzzling power worse than an X-series BMW with its gas pedal floored on a German Autobahn. On top of that, AI slop everywhere.

- a visual hellhole that, gotta admit it, still has by far the upper hand performance-wise thanks to a best-in-class-by-far hardware and excellent integration with the OS (macOS)

- an "OS" that's more like 20 different ways of doing things, with not a single one achieving any sort of visual integration across at least the major applications because there's like a dozen UI frameworks and serious issues with hardware support across the board on top (Linux)

Brave new world lol

As someone who develops and sells software for Windows and Mac, I spend a lot of my time jumping through hoops created by Apple, Google and Microsoft. I guess this is going to create a load more work for me, with no benefit to me or (judging by the overwhelmingly negative feedback I have seen) my customers. <sigh>

All the glass stuff reminds me of Windows Vista and the "Aero" style.

I've seen some people online compare this new design to windows vista, saying that "if vista was ahead of its time, now is the time". But, is it really?

For me, this is a hard 'No'.

This design requires far too much visual processing of my own brain to separate the 'liquid glass' animations from the content of the button.

I find my eyes tracking content sliding under the controls and not looking at the objects in the controls.

I was thinking of moving from Google to Apple with the next generation, but this new feature for me is a hard pass.

Even watching the video about it from Apple is not a relaxing experience for my eyes.

I know quite well how Apple designers work, and I do not share the sense of emergency about this change. Like all change is scary, and Apple will inevitably adapt it. But the work is good and consistent. Give them time.

We’ve been through this cycle before with Apple. They come up with a new aesthetic direction, and tries to follow through on it all the way. First version goes too far and impedes functionality. Then gradually, they dial it in, fixing the problems while keeping the soul of the new visual direction. See Aqua and iOS 7.

This useless lack of clarity in design is clearly an example of lack of work ethics.

"Boss, this idea is shit and I am not implementing it. Either you change or I go."

And before leaving, an email to the boss's boss or to the CEO.