It may well be boring for some, but the original author - whether tongue-in-cheek or just to rile up discussion - seems to have forgotten that it is a utility. It is the back end of a very sound and efficient piece of software and needs to be simple, easy to use and - above all for me, with little time to play around and learn from scratch - reliable in that it doesn't constantly keep changing. Small enhancements, fine, but not a major work over every few months.

As to the pretty, pretty side of Joomla: it may well be pretty and catch the eye, but its complexity is overwhelming. Perhaps that is why some sites have moved from Joomla to WordPress - yes, I know people who have moved personally.