I wouldn't see that as "ugly". Highly functional, maybe utterly boring, but not ugly. I mean, w9x looks as boring as an Ikea stool.
Ugly would be, with no arguing, the first editions of Amiga OS. Look:
http://toastytech.com/guis/amiga1.html
http://toastytech.com/guis/amiga2.html
Windows 95, being designed for 256 colors, looks really fine. Ok, Mac's System 7 it's prettier, without any doubt, but as I said the Amiga OS 1/2.x versions are far worse.
Windows 95 it's boring in the sense of being tied to a corporation based style, with cubicles.
I just find the look ugly. There is no objectivism in preference to how something looks.