Jambone
Yea, I agree that Office 2003 was the pinnacle of Office UI design. And I’d go so far as to say that about Windows 2000.
Having controls in predictable shapes and locations really contributed to “ease of use”. One of my pet peeves is the more recent trend where clickable elements aren’t obviously so. Such as a string of text that one has to hover across and see the cursor change shape to know that it’s clickable.
As others have said, I think a significant part of why the UIs have changed since then is to accommodate touch screens and “webification”.
'Glad to see your posting. I thought I was just being curmudgeonly :)
Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream of Jeannie, Mission Impossible
“Earschplittenloudenboomer”
That post title brings back memories:
It was 1981 and my mom was having a hard time getting over the passing of my dad. So for a while, I occasionally took her to the movies.
One Saturday, I took her to see “Heavy Metal”.
She watched attentively with nary a comment.
Afterwards, I expected her to say something about it, given its mature content.
And, as we were passing through the lobby, she did:
“That was a cartoon.”
Reminds me of “Demon Seed” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Seed
When I’d spend a summer week at my Grandma’s in the early '60s, my cousin would take me to Luke’s Store, where a dollar would buy a bag full of candies. Always included was a sleeve of Necco wafers.
I liked the flavors and would try to eat them slowly, but usually ended up crunching through them.
In 2018 when the Necco company went bankrupt, I was traveling a bit for work and would buy bags full wherever I found them. It was a relief when the Spangler company bought the brand and resumed production.