Re: "skeuomorphism"
Humans have been dealing with 3d objects in space for as long as there have been humans. We're hardwired to do so. Having UI elements that look like 3d objects in space just enough to invoke that bit of our minds, in effect, applies hardware acceleration to GUI usage. The skeuomorphs don't have to take it to the ridiculous degree that some software did in the 90s, with pretend leather-bound volumes with dog-eared paper pages. It just takes a bit to make it obvious which elements are important or interactive without having to mouse over them to find out (or even worse, tap them on a touchscreen and see if what happened was what you wanted).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
