Putting it simply for you, but using a launcher that isn't actually your desktop is disingenuous.
You have to open another window with the launcher in it which just slows down your workflow.
And in Windows prior to Windows 8, you had to click the Start button first.
OMG! The HORROR!!!!!!!! 
Sure you can just set it to a hot corner, but then you have to open up a folder within Launchpad, or the alternative is to have your apps strewn all over the place.
So don't use it.
Tell that to Microsoft. It made them rich and now people are paying to get the old Start button back because they "suck" so much. Honestly, you seem to not know what you're talking about.
it will go down in history as another Apple brain fritz moment like Sherlock, or worse, voice recognition in OS 8.6 which ended up locking people out of their computers permanently.
History? You act like anyone gives a crap. You seem to forget that 90% of the rest of the world uses Windows. They couldn't care less what Apple does since Apple isn't even in their thoughts save perhaps an iPhone.
Launchpad is another example of a Scott Forstall disaster and there's a reason Forstall was fired. It is an immensely pointless and extravagant waste of resources for an operating system that is not based on being touch friendly.
OMG. A Scott Forstall disaster? REALLY? That JOKER they have in there right now named Johnny is the disaster. Scott brought the iPhone to the success it is. Johnny Five is trying to destroy it. Apparently paisley is cool as are vector graphics when the rest of the world has 3D and photo-realism? Talk about a step BACKWARD. But then we live in a oddball society where black-rim glasses are somehow "in" and "cool" when they look so freaking ridiculously AWFUL. Twenty years from now, people will look back and say, I can't believe people wore those ugly glasses like they already do for the giant 1980s glasses and the ridiculously
ugly horn-rimmed glasses of the '50s and '60s. There is no accounting for taste and it's clear we are living in the century of bad taste. Which brings us to....
OS X is about gestures not touch.
This is why I replied because is SO presumptuous about how others use OS X. So OS X is about gestures? I have NEVER used a "gesture" in OS X beyond the required combos to get scrolling and the 2nd mouse button functionality. Why? For one thing, I try to avoid use of trackpads! A LOT of us don't like trackpads. They're not comfortable to use over long periods of time and are a PITA to do complex things like Photoshop work. I always bring a mouse with me in my laptop case and only use the trackpad for short periods where it would take to much time or there's too little space to use a mouse. Apple makes it 10x worse by not providing a proper 2nd (let alone 3rd) track pad button. Frankly, that makes it awful to use, but instead of giving us the extra button with the option of not using it, they took away the first button and integrated it into the pad. Yes, that looks nice, but it's now very easy to accidentally click things.
Apple is already in the history books for the asinine idea of using a ONE button mouse. Apple NEVER admitted how bad an idea that was and when they did add an extra button, they had to hide it so as to pretend they still have one button for Windows folks who for those that have not used a Mac largely still believe to this day that it uses one button. Steve could not admit his mistakes. Bad input ideas is one of them. For example, it was a mistake NOT to include at least the option for a professional stylus with the iPad. Artists NEED them and a lot of other people prefer them to painting and pushing with their hands like some kindergarten level art class. Apple refuses to correct this since Steve made it clear he wanted no stylus, even though it's obvious the iPad would be much better with official support for one.
Yes, the Launcher is half-arse implemented and PITA to use as it is now. However, they could easily improve the design and tools to edit how it looks. I think it could be very useful as an alternative for some things. For example, organizing categories of Apps without having to move Apps into separate folders is a good use for it. Apple makes this a pain to set up with the total lack of quick organizational tools and then it sometimes resets itself for some bizarre reason, ruining the setup (they could save the settings and let you reload them, but no).
I ALREADY have to click on my Applications folder to get to many apps since believe it or not, I can't fit every app I use on the main dock. There's just too many of them and having too many instead of just the most used ones makes for awful clutter which can waste more time than a simple extra click. So I keep games and other apps separate from each other and set those folders on the Dock and then just my most used apps. The point is that having to click on a Launcher icon is no more work than having to click on an Apps or Games folder icon on the dock. It's the same amount of work. Your entire argument is NULL and VOID on that basis alone.
