I think it looks hideous - it reminds me intensely of phpBB, with the author icon / info etc. on the left, and the stench of phpBB is definitely to be avoided (IMHO).

I did not like it. It may be easier for the eyes (if the ads are there, I think it's not gonna be any better) but it's not usable. I like the top flash bar - it's informative, but not when you're logged off, duh. I also usually search and view questions via tags, which are missing. It looks like a forum - I don't care WHO posted the answers, I don't need it in big ugly phpBB layout in front of me. In contrast, the points each answer has allow me to easily skim through the garbage to find good answers, for "old" content.

Nice try, but he needs to have a clue of what he's trying to design.

I didn't read all of the complaints... usability 'experts' and I rarely see eye to eye... That said, I really found his redesign to be far far worse. It was so bad that it was not even immediately obvious to my while skimming the page that it was a redesign. I thought he had just separated out different page elements to look at them more closely. blegh.

I agree, there is something in the design that feels more balanced and makes the page elements work well together.

However, Stack Overflow is a business and I think moving the ad banner like that would have some big implications in terms of conversions. Also, the tagging system, which is a key navigational element as well as potential revenue source (sponsored tags) is removed.

Also, another thing I disagree with is the change in proximity of the user image to the voting icon. I think psychologically this has some implications because it now looks like you are upvoting the user vs. the information presented.