Remember the firestorm of controversy that swept through the Mac community after Uncle Steve gave the first public demonstration of Mac OS X last January? The flame wars were raging so hot, you could scarcely launch a web browser without singeing your fingers. At the heart of the controversy was Aqua, Apple's new "refined" user interface whose earmarks are lots of sizzle and a distinct "Liqui-Gel" look. Now, by themselves, there's nothing particularly wrong with flying icons and control buttons that look like over-the-counter cough remedies, but the interface purists had a bone to pick with Apple's apparent decision to study its own Human Interface Guidelines very carefully, understand each and every subtle nuance, and then throw them all straight out the window.

So, as the HIG faithful worked themselves up into a virtual froth by lambasting Aqua's reordered window controls, confusing and inconsistent Dock, and the elimination of the Finder as we know it, Apple was apparently taking notes. A ZDNet News article examines some of the refinements to Aqua that have been made in its latest developmental incarnation, which recently shipped with Mac OS X Developer Preview 4. For starters, there's the Dock: as originally demonstrated, it was a catch-all toolbar that held icons for running applications, user-defined aliases to non-running applications, and minimized windows. In DP4, though, the Dock has been transformed into-- well, a catch-all toolbar that holds icons for running apps, aliases, and minimized windows. But at least now those three categories of entries aren't all jumbled together. Reportedly the Dock now keeps the icons of running applications separated on the left, which hopefully will reduce confusion. A little.

Other seemingly-arbitrary departures from the long-established Mac Way seem to have been scaled back, as well. Back in January, dragging a file from one place to another in the Aqua universe resulted in a copy, not the moving of the original file; in DP4, the standard Mac behavior (drag to move, option-drag to copy) has been restored. And while the Desktop still may not be as flexible as it is in Mac OS 9, at least there's now an option to make volumes appear on the Desktop instead of only in the Windowsy "Computer" directory. So those of you who were concerned that Apple was transforming your Mac into something decidedly "other" should be at least a little relieved.

Now, the way we see it, there are two basic possibilities as to how this whole thing is going down. One is that Apple is honestly listening to customer and developer feedback and is working to restore more Mac-style behavior to Aqua. The other is that maybe Apple planned on shipping a more Mac-like OS all along, but foresaw opposition to Aqua's new look, so lots of Mac interface standards were deliberately broken. Apple waited for the controversy to reach a fever pitch and then "repaired" the grosser infractions, thus quieting most of the outrage and paving the way for a smoother introduction when Mac OS X finally ships. You have to admit, both scenarios are pretty impressive, with high marks for either honesty or deviousness.