If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. I know some people will always look for something new, but just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better. Every major version of Windows looks completely different, while OS X receives UI tweaks in smaller increments.
I do think it would be good to simplify the look of some apps, like Find Friends and Game Center on iPhone, and Calendar and Contacts on iPad.
I believe the recent redesign of the Podcasts app[1] shows what we should expect from iOS 7: less textures, less color, dark gradients – but nothing that could be described as ‘flat design’.
XP and Vista look completely different. Not only was Aero introduced in Vista, the taskbar and Start menu were redesigned.
Vista and 7 look very different. The UI was cleaned up a lot, the taskbar was redesigned again, Live Thumbnails and multitouch support were added.
Let's compare that to OS X: most people won't be able to tell Mountain Lion (released 8 months a go) from Leopard (released in 2007), just by looking at the desktop.
Wow, I didn't realize how little the basic interface has changed. I mean, I know there's been no radical changes, but I still didn't expect it to take me nearly as long as it did to tell the difference between a 1-year-old and 6-year-old OS.
Amazing how much they've improved "under-the-hood" while keeping the basic interface the same.
PS. If you can't tell the difference between the two, look at the dock - the only way I could figure it out is spotting the new/changed app icons (Launchpad, iTunes, etc).
It'd be a lot easier if there was any real UI on the screen at all in your examples. Of course "just looking at the desktop" is not going to provide much hint.
Not sure what relevance multitouch has to the appearance of the UI.
Vista and XP looked pretty close. The real difference was the Gadgets: http://i.imgur.com/kYt9Xqm.jpg which can be turned off (and if that's a big difference, well, "Mission Control" and "Launchpad" mean a big difference for OS X).
I do think it would be good to simplify the look of some apps, like Find Friends and Game Center on iPhone, and Calendar and Contacts on iPad.
I believe the recent redesign of the Podcasts app[1] shows what we should expect from iOS 7: less textures, less color, dark gradients – but nothing that could be described as ‘flat design’.
[1] http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/03/hands-on-apples-podcast...