The public beta, code named Kodiak was awful. As were, 10.0 (Cheetah), 10.1 (Puma), 10.2 (Jaguar) and 10.3 (Panther). 10.4 (Tiger) was initially terrible, but did improve massively. 10.5 (Lion) was comparatively awful and quite jarring with it’s nit insignificant UI overhaul...

The point I’m making is that there is an awful lot of looking back with rose tinted glasses going on. It happens every time there is a new release. Thing is, every OS seems to suffer this, not just Apple.