I like the text only version a lot. The top icons could still be graphics as they are more gauges than icons. The cognitive load of a million different icons, mostly different per application is too much in my opinion. I would include this under design cleverness vs usability.
Symbolics Genera used an all text approach. Experimentally testing of text vs icons would be very interesting.
Symbolics Genera used an all text approach. Experimentally testing of text vs icons would be very interesting.