why would it?
Right click selection. Actually, just separation of action from selection, regardless of how the buttons are configured.
Also, the press button->do action paradigm instead of select tool->press button->do action
Also, not using Ctrl Alt and Shift so much when there are perfectly serviceable free keys on the keyboard. Why do I have to press Ctrl-A to select everything when just plain A is unbound?
Also programs having functions not accessible from the keyboard. That’s a huge alarm-bell for me whenever I choose software. Just imagine if in MS Word new line was accessible only via an on-screen button. That’s how I feel about pretty much any function in any software.
The best thing Blender’s UI has going for it is:
- Color customization. Most commercial apps lock in the color pallet for their UI, in part to make it more recognizable. Blender’s advantage is that it doesnt do that, so you can have a UI that has XSI’s color pallet or one that mirror’s Maya’s.
- Its attribute editor panel is simplified and visually broken up for quickly locating the desired input.
- Viewport options slide out from the side. Not a big deal but it feels nicer than going into dedicated viewport option windows in other apps.
Thats about it. Would rather see Blender adopt more from other applications beyond that.
Wow, I didn’t know (or forgot) about the Add Snap Points feature, and even about using Ctrl LMB to add a vertex in Edit mode.
I’m seeing lots of interface tips here that I didn’t know about, like eyedroppers for objects & depth (never knew it & still don’t know what that means, but it sounds useful).
Glad I started this thread!
mid click orbit - great for tablets.
Lets keep giving autodesk ideas what to put in maya next 
They already stole the grease pencil partially… although theirs cant be used for modelling.
They owned blender’s node editor with their new hypershade. I actually wish we could get some of the features they have there
The add snap points feature is great. I usually use it for centering an object, just snap, hit a, snap and click, then it’s right between the two snaps
a good example for the object eyedropper is the boolean modifier. in the object selection field, there is a little dropper. you can click that (or press ‘E’ over the field)and then click any object in the viewport, then that object is filled in the field. same with curve bevel objects, or any other object selection field. super handy!
the depth one only works on camera DOF focus length, to my knowledge, but in camera view, you can activate the dropper, then click anywhere in the camera view, and it will focus the camera to that point.
omgoodness, thanks, SterlingRoth, for explaining the eyedropper feature. I just took what you showed me and tried on the Mist Depth setting. Typing ‘e’ when I’m hovering over that number field gives the eyedropper, and clicking on an object in the 3D view sets the depth. You gotta have something to click on.
Awesome. You just saved me a few hours of clicking and typing this week! Well, oops, almost, but blender isn’t doing it properly with Mist Depth. My mistake. It’s setting it to some faraway, larger value. The Mist Start seems to work properly, though.
Using the eyedropper to set a value isn’t undoable, however (those changes aren’t shown in the Undo history).
Well, since the 2.8 plans are to create a noob/newbie user friendly UI, I presume that something will change…
Lots of misinformation here, its fun to think autodesk is constantly monitoring Blender development and then copying them but the truth is Autodesk probably doesnt really care or need to.
Autodesks main development method is acquiring existing software and plugins, then slowly incorporating them into the rest of their software. For example, their new modeling tools came from the NEX plugin they bought out. They slap it in and build upon it. The node graph stuff you are seeing is from Shader FX, which autodesk acquired as well. It existed in 3DS Max, then to Maya LT and now with Maya proper. The grease pencil also goes back over 8-9 years… again plugin, they acquire and eventually implement in full.
Alight back to your regularly scheduled programming… (aka back to the subject).
the UI is going to change again?
ohh my lord! hope that it will be better, but they need to stop changing the UI, all tutorials will be obsolete in 6 months 
and I will need to learn again…I still learning this one jajaja
Hold on, a lot of misinformation here
The plan for 2.8 is to do a deep polishing and refactoring of the ui BACKEND. This will enable more flexibility in custom configurations, and the plan is to do a test case to prove the customization works. this may include a simplified, easier to use version of the ui with less buttons and power features, but it will be an option, much like the maya preset. The goal is to enable more configurability to allow different setups.
The core ui should stay more or less the same, though there are plans to refresh the keyboard short cuts
Things like the 3D cursor, continuous grab, and the non-modal prompts would be nice. I can’t tell you how many times I try to exit from a prompt in another program by clicking on the main window only to have it blink and remind me that I need to click either OK or the X.
I love being able to assign keyboard shortcuts to almost anything, and change them on the fly, and save the named shortcut sets so I can reload them in the future. LOVE THAT!
hmm, good question… i would say the flexibility of the interface, where i can split or join areas easily. and also the fact that i can press ctrl space with the mouse on 1 section and have all the others temporary dissapear, so i can focus on it. ohand the also that i can animate almost anything, even the values of a settings, whether it’s render samples, nodes materials values, or even compositing values (though i’m not sure if this count as a UI feature)
Copy paste mirror pose,
breakdowner
push pose
Manual adjust of the camera position in the viewer
blender’ animation player
the solidify modifier
Shortcuts for everything
they way blender handles shapekeys
posemode / edit mode / objectmode, fantastic for rigging.
animation library
Blenders awesome grease pencil
im back on maya doing a commercial project, and way less than half of this stuff i can get with plugins… The rest i just cant 
etc etc etc…
I wish all the Adobe, Apple and other apps I use (anything with floating, dockable screen palettes) would emulate blender’s ability to NOTICE WHERE THE MOUSE CURSOR IS AND RESPOND. In Blender, if I hover over a menu, it can auto-expand without me clicking. I want that everywhere. And when I am hovering over the Layers palette (or any palette), I want to be able to use shortcut keys that affect stuff in that palette, not the whole app’s various windows and palettes.
Biggest, most desired:
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I wish ALL apps would let me use the +/- keys to zoom the size of every part of the interface, esp. palettes and ‘dialog’ boxes, whenever the mouse cursor is over them… and use PgUp/PgDn, too!
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I wish all apps would let me resize the interface areas like palettes & button bars.
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I wish all apps would let me ‘do math’ in the input fields.
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I wish all apps would let me copy and paste without clicking, like blender does. Hover over a field that has a value or name in it; do ctrl-c; hover over another field and do ctrl-v.
i love the mesh data panel:
it’s so nice to have all the weights, shape keys, uv maps custom data etc easy to find… Max hides this stuff away, maya it’s always buried deep in attributes…
Also I love weight painting in blender… makes maya feel really clunky…
Uv “follow active quads” is a godsend
Controversial perhaps but I love selection in blender…
also little things like with a camera the “show limits” option that shows you the focal point
edit: I also love how customisable view navigation is… I like "emulate 3 button mouse input as it works great with a tablet… heaven to navigate using only left mouse clicks when using a tablet… I wish I could configure max and maya that way… you almost can in max but it clashes with selection and that can’t be customised!
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i also like "G S and R in addition to manipulators… love the way I can do numeric input with those on the keypad and switch axis and between local and global directions.
Love the “action centre”… other apps have it too but it’s nicer in blender somehow