I have no idea ... it's just that 9 is the last, non OS X, Apple OS I used. It very well could look just like 8, which I also love.
Actually, given the state of UI these days, I would go so far as saying that I love Apple Macintosh OS 1.x through 9.x. I miss the heady days of "old school" computing and the wild west of the nascent internet.
