Why is skeuomorphism such a dirty word all of a sudden? I read two of the Fast Company articles by Austin Carr. Full disclosure: I'll be 60 in seven months. I'm a boomer. I'm probably 30 years older than Mr. Carr. That said, there is something to be said in defense of Apple's UI (user interface). I like the well designed inkwell icon representing my Pages software and the podium representing "Keynote". I have a calculator and dictionary icon that are INSTANTLY recognizable for what they will activate. Skeuomorphic icons and wooden bookshelves are like real life. They are images that (for me anyway) provide the comfort and even emotion that accompany recognition. If Microsoft wants to depart from their usual "Me too" following of Apple innovation, I say go ahead. If they want to represent programs in Windows 8 with skittle-colored Mondrian rectangles with minimalist images (that apparently still need a text word for description), fine. It's like a 21st century version of the Bauhaus movement. They applaud that (in one of Austin Carr's articles). But look where Bauhaus took commercial architecture in the latter half of the previous century. We are up to the penthouse with cold, plain, lifeless, brutal, pedestrian-unfriendly buildings in our largest cities. It's "Bow-Wow-haus" to me. Lacking all sense of texture, human scale, and warmth. I'm confident that Apple knows they have established a sensible balance between the textures that Carr decries with more simplified elements in the Apple UI, and that they will continue to innovate based on their graphic success. I want to keep my digital leather and wood grain.