I have been thinking, dangerous but true. Much of what I like in the world of web design and computing is when the interface gets out of the way, allowing the user untrammelled access to the task at hand.
This is probably very Jobsian yet essential to understanding the direction of technology.
No more chrome.
There are many examples: Ubuntu Heads Up Display, Sublime Text editor, CoffeeScript JavaScript ‘pre-processor’, Ruby on Rails web application framework, WordPress publishing platform, GitHub version control and Heroku cloud hosting. The list goes on, oh yes, the list goes on.
First up, OS chrome. Mark Shuttleworth blogged about the Ubuntu Intenterface, how common tasks hidden in menus will be accessible via a keystroke launcher. The other strand is, of course, the touchscreen, mostly on mobiles. A fantastic example is ClearApp, a simple (sic) todo iPhone App. People feel they are interacting directly with the data. There is no interface. Like a magic trick.
Ubuntu Heads Up Display: Intenterface
From a software perspective, Sublime Text is already there: the Command Palette accesses any command via a few keys, and the Goto Anything feature enables you to do the same for any file. It really is pretty stunning. Combine that with small but beautiful touches, like the way invisibles and tag folding are only apparent when you make a selection or hover over the folding channel.
Sublime Text Goto Anything
Sublime Text show when needed
With coding, the Ruby on Rails framework has a reputation for “convention over configuration” and “Don’t Repeat Yourself”. Combined with the pared-down elegance of the Ruby language, Rails appears to encourage a No Cruft, No Chrome approach (caveat: I’m not a programmer, so this is picked up second hand!).
In the same vein, CoffeeScript is a “little language that compiles into JavaScript”: again, it aims gets rid of redundnacy and encourages simplicity. In a fantastic talk, 37signals proponent Sam Stephenson says “my problem with JavaScript is the syntax”, not the language itself. Make it cleaner, make it clearer, that’s what CoffeeScript aims to do.
For a non-techhie, the WordPress publishing platform is lovely partly because it is so easy to setup. Indeed, it is famous for it’s five minute install. Reducing the barriers of entry to technology is another facet of removing ‘chrome’: a gentler learning curve and easier access gets out of the way of, in this instance, creating a website.
From my point of view, as a front end web developer, I don’t have the resources or brainpower to configure servers and stacks, so something as easy as the Nesta CMS, based on Ruby and Sinatra, is a godsend, particularly when it combines with the version control of GitHub and publishing the entire website to Heroku cloud hosting is as simple as git push heroku. Top banana, as they used to say.
Heroku hosting: great complexity presented simply
To summarize, get rid of chrome when you can. If it’s easy, I’m more likely to do it.
Twitter 
Linkedin 
ZDNet UK App 
Facebook 
RSS Feeds 
Newsletters 
Talkback
Agreed, the key issue for computer systems will be providing the control and configurability that required a complex system while being easy and intuitive to control.
I'm not a techie and I don't want to learn to code - equally, I want to make it work how I want and not be stuck with a locked-down granny-OS. I don't think I'm alone in this.
@archerthom: "I'm not a techie... - equally, I want to make it work how I want and not be stuck with a locked-down granny-OS"
Spot on observation. Making useful software is difficult, making complex useful software more so, making complex useful software simple even more so. It's a tough job to basic features accessible whilst simultaneously allowing a sliding access to more complex features.