Can't help but think is is an engineers mindset here (remember forms UIs with 50 gray buttons?). UIs were usable but not appealing. Older linux window managers. Designers making things look appealing brings computing to more people (not just pros) than otherwise.
Except... what they had was appealing enough to people to use. It's unappealing enough now that people don't want to use it (even jumping to bing). Many people will continue to use it because of system defaults and such, but many will look for more usable alternatives.
Usability is 'appealing' just as much as visual button styling, maybe moreso.
You remember that horrible WM everybody seemed to be running 10-15 years ago, 'enlightenment'? Completely unusable but it looked cool with all the shapes and transparencies and etc.
