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I noticed all these desktops and while the pictures are beautiful I'm curious aren't they distracting ?

And my second question, do you like skeuomorphic (textured) interfaces or modern flat ones ?

I mean people are talking nowadays about how distracting are textured interfaces (even if they have just a hint of subtle gray texture) and how only the content should be visible while maybe a colleague of mine works on something windowed, not full screen, and in the background a yellow bright sun on a blue sky stare at you, and of course parts of the clouds are visible through the transparent interface (which suddenly became textured with clouds).

So it seems me and my desktops are quite the opposite because I really find distracting, colored things while I work, that's why I use a gray flat (really flat) background, but I don't mind some subtle details in my interface if it allows better visibility and faster workflow.
 
That's a very good point sebastian... while I like to use colourful and interesting wallpapers I too, find them distracting so I tend to always switch back to this plain old mac desk...
 

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I noticed all these desktops and while the pictures are beautiful I'm curious aren't they distracting ?

And my second question, do you like skeuomorphic (textured) interfaces or modern flat ones ?

I mean people are talking nowadays about how distracting are textured interfaces (even if they have just a hint of subtle gray texture) and how only the content should be visible while maybe a colleague of mine works on something windowed, not full screen, and in the background a yellow bright sun on a blue sky stare at you, and of course parts of the clouds are visible through the transparent interface (which suddenly became textured with clouds).

So it seems me and my desktops are quite the opposite because I really find distracting, colored things while I work, that's why I use a gray flat (really flat) background, but I don't mind some subtle details in my interface if it allows better visibility and faster workflow.

1) Desktop pictures can be distracting but also inspiring - depending on the circomstances.
Sometimes when I just have some file managing to do, I find it pleasant to have an inspiring background behind my Finder windows. But, I'll admit, most of the time I have one or more apps open that fill the screen. Then, of course, I couldn't care less about my wallpaper since I don't get to see it anyway.
If I do set a wallpaper, I'll go for a relatively quiet one (not the bright sun on blue sky... you're describing). And if I can't make up my mind, it'll be a simple solid color like gray or graphite.

2) I'm a big fan of a minimal GUI, but only if it is 100% consistent. Apple's MacOS is slowly getting better, I'd say Mavericks is quite OK with room left for improvement. I don't like skeuomorphics at all, with or without iOS7.
 
I like having a nice wallpaper. I like when I get complimented for my wallpapers and making my desktop look different to every other mac. It's like expressing yourself. Also, since my productivity apps are full screen anyway, if I can see the desktop while doing something, it means it doesn't matter if I get distracted anyway.
 
Thanks for the answers. I was always curious about the wallpaper's reasons :) , especially since it seems my desktops, iphone, ipad and most everything is set completely opposite.
My desktops are slightly dark gray, ipad has the almost black wallpaper by apple, and the iphone was black but then I decided to add a splash of color, and I made this wallpaper quickly with some random effects on a graphics iphone app.

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