I think your comment is apt, and I really appreciate the Doisneau quote. What he describes seems to hold true for design always: the "new" is digested in to the collective consciousness and thereby becomes normal, requiring a new "new".

As a brand Yahoo! has always been far from the edge of visual innovation. I once worked on a pitch for Yahoo! long ago, and it seems to me that the angle is still the same: predictable and dated. I'd say there's no reason to ask for more. If anything, they're probably giving their users what they want.