Agree, the former is much better, but IMHO one should consider that good design encompasses several aspects. I'd consider this to be an incomplete list, and repeats some of what has already been said:In some ways I prefer the original. Partly because I find strong colours like the bright blue quite distracting.
- aesthetics: is it pleasing to look at or does it jar your eyeballs? Does its design consider those who are colour blind?
- does placement follow accepted design practices? There are M$ standards for this, covering many aspects such as placement of close and other buttons.
- is the tab order conducive to the input of data?
- are unnecessary features removed (e.g. record selectors on single record forms)?
- is it intuitive to use (a wide ranging topic)
Then there is a branch to all of this that encompasses the use of the UI, such as validation to support accurate data, no code bugs, etc. but I consider those to be less about design and more about function.