I dont care what the application is, design requires proportionate attention to competing and complementary criteria.

Did I say otherwise?

I'm not even sure how to reply to your post because it seems, well... axiomatic.

I can say this: usability is as much a function (if not more) of the user as it is of the application. More sophisticated users tend to have less trouble, even with non-inuitive interfaces, than less sophisticated users. We all learn how to adapt ourselves to various interfaces, and adapting to new ones is itself a skill. Part of the point I was making in the node to which you replied was that, as computing becomes more and more a natural part of daily existence and users become more and more sophisticated simply by virtue of exposure, the focus will naturally shift toward 'delight' because usability will be second nature. As usability becomes less of a focus with the growing sophistication of users (as well as that of designers) aesthetics will play an increasing role in interface design.

Note that I also think aesthetics currently plays a larger role in web-based interface development because the medium makes it easier to separate presentation and "content" than, for instance, most GUI toolkits.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";