Apple Working on Revised Brushed Aluminum Theme?

Apple's adoption of the Brushed Aluminum System theme has steadily increased since it first appeared in builds of QuickTime Media Player several years ago. The interface scheme now spans almost all of the company's consumer applications, and with the launch of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, will encompass the system's Finder windows as well.

Unfortunately for Apple, these cosmetic alterations have been met with mixed results. Some users — flat out — just don't like it, or the inconsistency it brings to the primarily Aqua-based Mac OS X interface. One avid Mac OS X user has gone as far as creating an online petition asking Apple to drop the theme or provide users an easy way to turn it off.

Meanwhile, a new source tells AppleInsider that Apple's Human Interface division has been busy creating a revised version of the aluminum theme for inclusion in an update to Mac OS X 10.3 (or possibly Mac OS X 10.4) sometime next year. "The revision exists as simply nothing more than a prototype, at the moment," the source says. It's rumored to be 'slightly darker' and 'smoother' than the current theme. Other alterations include tweaking of the dark-faced font and buttons that constitute interactive portions of the theme.