Once you get past all this silly babble about old scrollbars vs. new scrollbars, you'll realize that it's not about the scrollbars at all:
OS X 10.7 will be designed to include full touchscreen / multitouch devices.
Yes, there is a touchscreen Mac in the near future.*
Yes, there is an iOS / OS X integration or convergence sometime in the future. (But it's not as simple as let's make one like the other.)
You see, it's never about where Apple "is" at any given time or how this compares to what "was." It's all about where Apple "is going" in the future. You are being led down a very thoughtful, well-planned path to future device interaction.
*Yeah, I know there have been third-party modded touchscreen Macbooks around for a while. Apple is going to do it right, as they usually do, with a fully integrated hardware+software experience as they've done all along the way. It's not going to be an existing Macbook with a touchscreen feature, and it's not going to be a souped up iPad with a keyboard. It will be the best of both worlds, as Jobs and co. don't usually settle for less. And yes, they have screwed up before. They are not perfect. But they will get a whole lot right, and do so much better than most anyone else.
Thank you for probably the most educated and level-headed comment in this whole thread. Took the words right out of my mouth. This whole scrollbar's thing is about a much bigger picture.
Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, iOS-styled scroll bars and elastic bouncing....? Clearly apple want to bring the touch paradigm into desktop/laptop computing as much as possible. Clearly one can acknowledge that complete touch (ipad et al) isn't completely feasible at the moment without some sort of layer on top of OS X. However gesturing and other interface nuances such as the elastic bouncing on scrolling, and whatever else they decide to add clearly indicate that the transition has begun.
I'm not saying this is a transition to iOS. Actually I find it silly to think OS X will turn into iOS. If anything, Apple will make iOS more like Mac OS X while retaining the touch paradigm. Eventually there will be enough feature parity and a merger of sorts may be possible. But there's more than just software (OS) in play here, even more than hardware (touch input). It's infrastructures such as an OS X app store. As touch becomes the mainstay for OS interaction, file system browsing and file management will need to be simplified, app installation, app purchasing etc.. all needs to be refined.
To accomplish this 'simplification', Apple needs to do it without creating a dumbed down approach. Simple, yet powerful rather than simple and basic. An app store infrastructure like that for the iphone/pad would make browsing and installing apps much more intuitive.
Dare I say it, computing is going to get simpler and more abstract. The top-layer of future OS's will 'abstract' us away from the underpinnings of the file system, and keep us in a layer of simplicity and productivity.
I for one am looking forward to it. Sure I'll miss the old way, but that's no different to missing floppy drives
The proof is in the pudding too. My 2.5 year old son can use an iOS device fine. He can't use a Mac. The touch paradigm makes much more sense for a wider audience.
Peace everyone. Oh also, personal gripe... why does everyone here always have a go at each other? Seriously, smile.... be friendly. Only live once, don't waste it being nasty.
Scottie
has in store for FS and UI. I love SL, however if 10.7 has no major draw factor I might hold off upgrading for a few months after release. I have never had an issue on any of my Mac when upgrading with a 10.X release, unlike those who wait for the 10.X.x updates. 
