...ignorance of a self proclaimed GUI expert...
Funny how you don't know what I do for a living.
Oh listen to you, now you're a self proclaimed GUI expert as well, aren't you? Welcome to the club.
I am still curious about the non-nativity. What's the problem exactly? aMule uses wxWidgets, and wxWidgets use carbon/cocoa for the widgets.
There are loads of elements that just look out-of-place on a Mac. It's not about whether it's technically using native widgets or not, it's about whether these widgets are placed where they're supposed to be and sized how they're supposed to be and look how you'd expect them to. The wxWidgets you're using may be translated to something near-native or really native looking on other OSes, they don't on the Mac. Spacing, position, different button types are off in many cases.
You're forgetting aMule is showing space to hold 14 (FOURTEEN) downloads in the space Trnsmission is showing only 4 (FOUR(\) downloads. Vertical space is way less than horizontal space in EVERY monitor out there, and even worse now with the dawn of mainstream widescreen . So, in your screenshots, amule is showing a lot more downloads, and a lot more info per download. Transmission has a different window for peers, and amule can expand them in the same list. I like the aMule design, because I dislike applications that open 300 (THREE HUNDRED) windows to show me things. aMule is a file sharing program, not a peer inspection one, and as a file sharing program is presents not only more information per download, but also 250% (TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY PERCENT) more downloads in the same space. Optimization for the main goal of the application is a must. You can even remove or resize the columns to your liking to present more or less information per download and take less horizontal space if needed. Can you remove the extra information on Transmission? Hint: You can't (!can).
It's kind of hard to take this paragraph seriously with all the useless exaggerations in there. First, I never said Transmission is perfect and that aMule should look like Transmission. I don't really like the floating window either, but it's getting the job done quite well, and the overall GUI of Transmission is a lot tighter and more streamlined than aMule's.
Second, you can switch Transmission into a minimal view, which takes only one line per download as well.
Third, yes you got the part about horizontal vs. vertical space right. Why then is aMule wasting three entire columns of horizontal space?

Why is it squeezing two different kinds of information into the limited vertical axis instead of displaying them side-by-side. You know, there's more horizontal space than vertical.
Read above. Also, let's take a look about the file presentation on Transmission. What do you need a gigantic folder icon on the left for every file? Why is the icon under it (and what does it do anyway?) on the left, when other action icons for this file are on the right? You call this good GUI design, I'll begin to understand why I have to go through 12 (TWELVE) windows and scroll down 4 times to look for some info on some applications. People like you are the cancer that is killing the computer world.
The ginormous file type icon serves as a quick visual identifier of what file type you're downloading. In this case all of them are a folders full of stuff, so yeah, it doesn't look very distinct. If you switch to minimal view it takes up the same space as the peer icon in aMule.
I don't really feel like defending Transmissions interface though, because I didn't make it and as I said before, I don't think it's perfect either, but it's a lot better in many points.
Which TWELVE windows and 4 (FOUR) scrolls are you taking about? Don't lose track of the topic please. And you're the cancer that is killing /b/, so there.

With that out of the way, trying to find out every information about my connection status in aMule DOES take about 6 (SIX) clicks and some scrolling.
Hint: they are different networks, with different capabilities, structure, and basis. So they are kept separated.
Hint: They're both just different means to the same end: finding and downloading files. You can present them on the same screen without risk of confusing them. If you can't figure out how, cancer, /b/, etc.
If they're so special and separate, what are they doing together in the same app? Why not two different download lists for each then? Oh wait, aMule uses BOTH to find peers for the SAME files! Why a separate search option then? There's NO distinction in presentation whatsoever between a Kad search and an ED2k search, except that I can't execute both at the same time. If you can't figure out how to populate the same list with results from two different networks: cancer, /b/, etc.
I am sorry, where is the useless graph? What I see there is a graph of the peers you have on the decentralized kad network, which helps a lot people on this forum looking for help, as they see that they lose kad contacts over time or other things. Why would I want to remove it from there? Does it not let you sleep at night? Do you have the compulsion of getting up at 2am to look at the graphic, which you have to ACTIVELY look for in the app by clicking the Kad tab on the Networks section, and feel so useles it is? When you buy a TV, do you feel like opening it and checking the circuit boards and complain that they are not covered by black fabric instead of being so complicated?
You're getting sidetracked again with analogies. The graph is simply too HUGE. There's no need for it to take up this amount of space. Make it smaller, put the server list and the Kad connect interface on the same page and I wouldn't need to click back and forth between the two.
I like how you want to simplify the GUI design by mashing together two completely different parts of the application into a single window. Some people use the kad network, some people use the ed2k network, some people use both. I don't want to waste space on eithr of them with information from the other, because THEN it would be useless for users that only want to use one of them.
How many people actually CARE which one they use? They're both just different means to the same end. I prefer to use both, because it helps me find all the available peers for my downloads. And I dare say that's what most people are mainly interested in as well. And using both is being complicated by the fact that I have to switch back and forth between them.
Would it now? So, where are you going to put the information about EC if you get rid of the log? I only agree on something here: the ED2k and Kad network tabs can hold the information from the ED2K and KAd info tabs, but then again, we already have a log text and a server info text tabs, so why clutter the upper part with information we can put on the bottom one? The server info is not redundant: as much as it sends spam, the servers send that information and we have to show it, because they are providing a FREE service to you and all other users, so the least we could do is sho their advertising messages, on a tiny log on some place of the app. Beats having google adds everywhere on the main GUI or making a paid software application, don't you think?
The log:
2007-12-29 12:58:23: Connecting to Skin Domination (72.172.89.131 - 72.172.89.131:0)
2007-12-29 12:58:24: Connection attempt to FuckFest101 (72.172.89.137:4661) timed out.
2007-12-29 12:58:24: Servers: Trying to connect
2007-12-29 12:58:25: Connecting to Donkey bad BeAts You No2 (72.172.89.143 - 72.172.89.143:0)
2007-12-29 12:58:49: Connection attempt to Skin Domination (72.172.89.131:4661) timed out.
2007-12-29 12:58:49: Servers: Trying to connect
2007-12-29 12:58:50: Connecting to 193.138.231.210 (193.138.231.210 - 193.138.231.210:4242)
2007-12-29 12:58:50: Lost connection to 193.138.231.210 (193.138.231.210:4242)
2007-12-29 12:58:50: Connection lost
2007-12-29 12:58:51: Connection attempt to Donkey bad BeAts You No2 (72.172.89.143:4661) timed out.
2007-12-29 12:58:51: Servers: Trying to connect
2007-12-29 12:58:51: Connecting to SEX & more SEX (66.135.59.149 - 66.135.59.149:4535)
2007-12-29 12:58:51: Connected to SEX & more SEX (66.135.59.149:4535)
2007-12-29 12:58:53: Servers: Connected
2007-12-29 12:58:53: Connection established with: SEX & more SEX
2007-12-29 12:58:53: New client ID is 4139653181
2007-12-29 12:58:53: Received 2 new servers
2007-12-29 12:58:53: Saving of server-list completed.
2007-12-29 13:08:30: Read 186 Kad contacts
Do I really need to know when and how often aMule tried to connect to which server? It's interesting sometimes, but it's debug information. It doesn't need to be that present in the main GUI. My client ID I can get from the ED2k Info tab. "Received x new contacts/servers" is, again, sometimes interesting, but mostly I don't care. The Kad contacts message is redundant with the huge graph anyway. "Saving of server list complete" -- debug info, I expect that to be done by the application, it doesn't have to tell me about it.
The Server message: Sure, have a small scrollable text field for it. It would actually expose the info better than the separate tab it is in now, because almost nobody clicks on it, since it usually doesn't contain anything worth reading.
Redundant? The status bar is to show the status of the app at first glance, from all parts of it. Then you can check the details on every specific section. Just because something is in two places it doesn;t mean it's redundant. Just because you can add the speed of your downloads it doesn't mean you must remove the global speed, either.
Make the status bar the one and only place to display the connection status and do not repeat it in the details section. Voila, space saved without losing functionality. I'd be thinking about moving the status information near the top of the app, where it would also function as the "intro" to the details section when there.
Nowhere. Because they are DIFFERENT NETWORKS, with DIFFERENT CAPABILITIES, DIFFERENT RESULTS, DIFFERENT SEARCH TIMES, and DIFFERENT RESULTS, which people can use SEPARATELY.
DIFFERENT NETWORKS - yes
DIFFERENT CAPABILITIES - err... finding files and peers?
DIFFERENT RESULTS - wrong, largely the same results.
DIFFERENT SEARCH TIMES - so? both take about 20 - 40 seconds for me. and the results list is populating little by little anyway.
DIFFERENT RESULTS - redundancy warning ;-P
which people can use SEPARATELY - correction: HAVE TO USE separately.
Why, doesn't it work without you clicking 200 (TWO HUNDRED) buttons every time?
The button clicking time could be dramatically reduced. Just with some optimization, without dumbing it down or losing anything. If you think (verbosity || power) == number of tabs and buttons: cancer, /b/, etc.
Ok, if we're going to go with insults, I might as well say that ur mum is mediocre.
LOL

Sure, but so far you want to dumb it down in your proposals, or make it either show less information or mix apples with oranges. So you're pretty useless when it comes to improvement.
Did I make any proposals in my first post that would show less apples or oranges?
You seem to be pretty useless too, thanks very much.
Regards.