Oh, and Apple has not forsaken Metal. They're still converting some apps to it: Keychain Access in Tiger is now metal. Makes no sense, but it's metal now.
"Surely there wasn’t that big a backlash against Brushed Al?"
If you are unaware of how many people hate the Brushed Metal interface design, you shouldn't be writing this article. Folks have been complaining about it ever since QuickTime 4 and Sherlock 2 on OS 9.
How about a return of some pre-OS X features that were useful:
File Synchronization
The Trash contains xx items totaling xxMB
Programmable F-keys
Location Manager
WindowShade
File Sharing Monitor
Put URLs of downloaded files in Notes area of Get Info window
Print Finder windows
Make resize button work correctly and consistently
Or how about returning some features from OS X that were removed in Tiger:
Control-Tab to switch columns in list view
Customizable Toolbar in System Preferences
Return default browser/mail settings from Safari/Mail to System Preferences
Drop items in to folders using window titlebars
"Supported" is a misleading word. On Tiger's box, it means Apple will not support you if you call them up with a problem. OWC, however, does support the processor upgrade and has certified that it will work with Tiger.
What version of 10.4 are you using where Safari isn't metal? Safari has always been metal and is one of the few apps to do it right besides iTunes. Otherwise I completely agree with the inconsistent GUI gripe. I mean, they turned the freakin' Keychain application metal!
Also, why do you consider it good that StuffIt Expander no longer launches to uncompress .sit files? Now I have to do it manually instead. How is that better for the end user?
Where for art thou, Brushed Al?
Where for art thou, Brushed Al?
Anticipating Leopard
PowerLogix compatible with Tiger, should I upgrade?
Tiger: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly