imho the xmb is probably one of the best non-touch guis ever developed for a media device. while it is definitely impractical for a real computer, it does a spectacular job organizing stuff in an easy-to-use and intuitive layout that does not require very many clicks/joystick moves to go anywhere. However, like any other gui it does take some time to learn where everything is. (you should see me on a mac...) but that is not the fault of the gui. It is impossible to make ANY gui that does more than like three things in such a way that you can instantly find everything with no problems even if you have never used it before.
if you want to know how good an interface is compared to another one, try keeping track of how many clicks/joystick moves/scrolls/flicks/tap/whatevergestureyoucanthingof it takes to navigate from the home menu to do something like play a game or watch a movie. if you do this, the xmb performs at least on par and most of the time far better than pretty much any gui I've ever seen though admittedly this is somewhat limited.
the performance is an issue I'll agree and should be worked on but I hope to god they don't start majorly messing around with the interface because I really doubt you could make it much better and they'd probably just make it worse (anyone remember when they 'updated' the friend's list with those hideous gray boxes?)
Not trying to be a fanboy. Of course, it's hard when you own the best console eve... dang it
