I'm not really sure newer is always better...
But it is necessary to discover where is the better.
It uses screen area better indeed, but I'd say usability suffers. Like I mentioned, much later than D7 Microsoft introduced their 'ribbon' interface which is very similar to the old component pallette style, as a novel discovery.
I do not think ribbon is better than classic user interface too.
But I do not learn where the usability suffers is. Just usability enhance.
Sorry, didn't get those two points...? Please rephrase...
It is not necessary to place the IDE forms again and again. Menu, Object Inspector, Design Form, Messages Window, every element is needed where we design a form. On the classical D7 IDE, the most convenient form size is screen size - MainIDEBar - Object Inspector - Messages Window, if the form is larger, one of other element is covered. Or if we just write source code, not only the IDE, GEdit is enough, notepad.exe is enough, ......
Why Photoshop CS 5 hide its title bar of main window? Is it necessary? Or not?