Great defence, Bunsen. The strongest argument is the ability to breathe new life into RAM constrained PPC Macs. But I have to disagree about the appearance changes being 100% good -- some amazing features such as spring loaded folders (why still missing from Windows?), whilst some of the shading tricks just muddy the GUI. For those of us with lousy eyesight, the really simple System 7.x and earlier appearance is so easy to read.
Owing to a need to play with some DOS cards, I've been using one of my least favourite OS versions (8.1) on one of my least favourite Macs (8200). And I've been quite enjoying it. I don't need internet access for my exploration, so the small RAM footprint of OS 8.1 suits me very well. I could imagine that others using music composition packages or video editors might feel the same way. (System 7.6.1 and earlier won't cut it; I need HFS+ in order to support big disks with multiple DOS card images.)
Owing to a need to play with some DOS cards, I've been using one of my least favourite OS versions (8.1) on one of my least favourite Macs (8200). And I've been quite enjoying it. I don't need internet access for my exploration, so the small RAM footprint of OS 8.1 suits me very well. I could imagine that others using music composition packages or video editors might feel the same way. (System 7.6.1 and earlier won't cut it; I need HFS+ in order to support big disks with multiple DOS card images.)