I have felt the same thing. When the hardware struggled to do much of anything, the desktop metaphor was an appropriate goal for the user interface. But now, the hardware is not the limiting factor. Inertia is. People are comfortable with what has come before.
But even the desktop metaphor is strained. Does anyone work on a physical desktop that is only 15 inches in size? Most desks are much larger, but there has not been much improvement in screen size to match the physical model of the desktop metaphor.
As a geek, I look forward to real improvements and hopefully a revolutionary change in user interface.
