Of course the old Mac OS in black and white wasn't particuarly "flat", but (at its best) it had a spare beauty that probably hasn't been matched yet, even though the fonts have become a little dated: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1378&bih=839&... . You can see what was lost even in moving to a colourised version http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1378&bih=839&... , let alone to the tarty and unserious desktop GUIs we've had since. If Ive's team get back some of that visual restraint and unaffectedness I'll be properly impressed.