It doesn't even look "better". It's just more "modern", more "professional", more cooperate, or, my preferred description, more soulless.
Re:Chicago95 – Windows 95 Theme for Linux
by wildrhythms on Monday July 31, 2023 @07:37AM
(#36941165)
At the $bigcorp level, they ask survey panels "Which of these interfaces looks more modern to you?" that's largely the extent of the justification to completely change the entire UI that has been perfected and beloved by users over many years. The users begrudgingly learn the new UI, and a bunch of project managers get promoted and leave for the next company to do the same thing.
Yeah, I miss that a lot. My favorite example is the iTunes sidebar icons going from clearly distinguishable different colors to flat uniform monochrome.
Why? Because someone decided it made the interface look "better" as an art object, rather than being a better user experience.