J. Logan,
I agree actually. It's got to be a thankless job for UI developers because you can't possibly please all the people at the same time. I think they're doing a fantastic job with it though.
There should be enough flexibility in any application UI to allow users to control more easily the way they prefer to work. I also feel that a really great UI also allows uers to customize colors to allow or people with visual deficiencies (i.e. "color-blindness) to change things so they can actually SEE them, change icon/text size and even perhaps give some acoustic feedback to events. By allowing the ribbon to change size and by allowing users to drag panels off of the ribbon onto their desktop (or second monitor) I think they've done a good job in letting users arrange items to their advantage and comfort. And, by allowing the project browser and modeless properties panel to be pulled onto another screen really make it possible to configure and setup a UI that works for them.
I'm tempted to get another monitor here (I guess two aren't enough!) to allow me to have a space exclusively for my panels that I've pulled off of my ribbon, menu browser and properties panel.
I hope they continue to offer the native UI for as long as the product is around. But, as new technology develops further I know that less and less R&D/Support dollars are spent on antiquainted tech until it's no longer justifiable to keep spending money on it...and then it's gone forever- to be released again in the future in some kind of limited, nostagia UI option. I strongly suspect that the native UI will fall into this category.
