I’m mostly just happy that Apple’s apps I use most (Finder, Safari, Mail) have adopted a spartan look.
The lack of visible scrollbars is really throwing me off sometimes. If content lines up right there is no visual indication that it extends beyond its frame. I think this is a step backward in usability.
I think this current obsession minimalism is just fashion for fashion sake.
I've always thought it was an attempt for all the administrata (the OS, the required chrome of each app, etc.) to fade into the background, and leave the only bright-and-shiny things on the screen—the stuff that immediately draws your eyes—to be your own stuff: your projects, your content, the website you're reading, etc.
And this dawned on me as I typed this: Lion's Address Book and iCal are gaudy precisely because their content isn't freeform or style-able, and doesn't present an obvious metaphor on its own. Address Book is a list of restricted Key-value store documents. iCal is a grid onto which you may manipulate sliding, wrapped boxes. Without their chrome, you'd have little context to decide what to do with them. So, in these cases, the chrome is the content—and so it is embellished, rather than inconspicuous.
Right now I have a separate Lion partition so I'm switching back and forth. Once I go 100% Lion it'll be much easier to get used to it.
Especially the progress bar: sure, it does look a bit like Lion's but it absolutely lacks the subtle colors and shades.
You know what other sites attempt to copy an OS's native controls? The ones displaying fake virus scans.
