User7198
1. The rounded tabs are simply ugly, and remind me of web design from a decade ago. It's also weird how they go from square to round on rollover. Poor design choice in my opinion.
2. It's far more difficult to find the active tab now. For comparison, the old style (http://static.filehorse.com/screenshots/browsers-and-plugins...). In the new version, I have to scan the toolbar to find the active tab based on the rounded or square edges. It's a lot easier the old way to find a bright active tab on darker, faded out inactive tabs. That's UX 101. It doesn't stop there, the entire toolbar, tabs, search, etc, blends together in a blob of light grey and white right now. Very little distinction between anything.
3. I never liked the orange Firefox button in the top left, it always seemed out of place and forced. Replacing it with an icon and menu is fine, but that icon should be on the left, before the first tab. The menu opening to a grid of icons is also awful. How it transitions to the right when you click something like 'History' is extremely bizarre. I have no idea why they tried to reinvent the wheel here, a typical list menu that everyone is familiar with would work best. That's great you can customize it, but 9/10 people will never use that feature, so it's a step backwards for them.
Overall, I see it as a change for the worse. It's not rocket science here, and nailing down a proper browser interface should be a walk in the park. We're talking about some tabs and a toolbar, there's no excuse for it to be anything but perfect after more than a decade. I'm 100% confident I could knock out a better design, that would be better received by people in a weekend. They have some nice features and design choices, but they got it 90% there, and keep tripping over polishing the remaining 10%.
If I had a son like the other poster, I'd be all over these, I think they'd be a lot of fun with kids. I'd like the technology aspect and problem solving, and a kid would love being able to print their own toys and parts.
Also, 3D printers seem early for me to buy in. The technology is changing rapidly, and it's difficult to tell who's going to come out on top. I'm in no rush, so maybe in a couple of years when I have a little more time, and 3D printers mature, I'll pick one up.
If you want to smooth things over, talk to him and say you like the idea, but see things a little differently, and are going to take a shot at the concept on your own.
The chances of succeeding are extremely slim, so don't lower your odds by carrying 4 people along as dead weight as you do all the work.