Leopard update: Apple seems smarter than Microsoft

I could say that the recent release of a Leopard update (10.5.2) made me realize that Apple seems to be smarter than Microsoft, but I would probably be lying since I had figured this out a couple of years ago.

This latest update allows users to change some of the new features of the Leopard interface which were not an all around success. Some people like them but many do not. A good example is the transparency of the menu bar, at the top of the screen, which depending on the wallpaper used, caused readability to suffer. Now, you can dial the menu transparency down or get rid of it entirely.

There are many of these interface changes in Vista as well, but it seems that while Apple is ready to admit that it might have gone overboard on some changes, Microsoft considers all its changes perfect, even though a large number of users complain about how "improvements" were made to places which did not really need any.