If I had the option, I would Windows-7-ize the interface for everything on any later version.

Is that crochety nostalgia, or the innate peak of the interface design? Hard to say.

But I liked buttons that are distinct from the background, a judicious use of color, evoked depth and texture—especially for things that were supposed to pop "in" and "out" of the page, scrollbars I could always find, and things generally being keyboard-navigable in a pinch...