As is usual in these circumstances, someone piped up with a sarcastic comment about how "that's going to increase productivity". This is a standard way of saying that visually appealing features have no value because they don't increase "productivity". Normally I don't think too much of these comments either way, but for once I thought, hang on a minute... Why does "productivity" have to be the ultimate measure of a computer's feature? Are we all trying to do nothing but be productive? I agree that if it reduces productivity, that's a bad thing, but if all it does is maintain the same level of productivity and at the same time is a little easier on the eyes, why not? After all, most of us (myself definitely included) will be spending a significant portion of their lives in front of a computer, one way or another. I'd like to enjoy that if at all possible...

Now I happen to think many of the desktop effects actually increase productivity, but that's a different discussion. I guess my point is that computing (and life) should be about more than just productivity. Kthxbye.