It's crazy to me that so many software companies dumped millions and perhaps even billions of dollars in R&D collectively to learn how to do UI&UX effectively in the 80s, 90s, 00s, etc., and every new generation just ignores the previous one completely because it looks dated.
Gen Z, or Gen Alpha, or whatever you call teenagers these days, aren't born knowing how to use a desktop computer. They're born knowing how to use smartphone apps. From what I hear, many of them are terribly ill-equipped to be actually productive with desktop.
They're no different from just an office guy who never used a computer in the 90s or from a kid or got a PC from his parents in the 00s.
Why would the GUI have to adapt to modern users when a new user now is no wiser in practice than a new user back then?
>every new generation just ignores the previous one
One of the easiest first steps when creating your own identity as the new generation is to refuse your predecessors wholesale. This goes triple for something that is about fashion, which GUIs to some extent are a fashion statement.
Relevant XCKD: https://xkcd.com/1053/
Gen Z, or Gen Alpha, or whatever you call teenagers these days, aren't born knowing how to use a desktop computer. They're born knowing how to use smartphone apps. From what I hear, many of them are terribly ill-equipped to be actually productive with desktop.
They're no different from just an office guy who never used a computer in the 90s or from a kid or got a PC from his parents in the 00s.
Why would the GUI have to adapt to modern users when a new user now is no wiser in practice than a new user back then?