I have been using apple computers since 1988. OS15 is like it was written by a Windows team who were set on destroying Apple from within.
You used to be able to set start up and shutdown times by clicking on the light bulb in System Preferences. Now you need to know how to type code in terminal.
Obsesive passwords everywhere. I used to have an Apple hard drive ikon on the top right of the screen that I could click on and - wallah all of your folders wre there. I may find a way to fix this but have not yet.
In mail the background fonts are too feint and there seems a need for the screen to look chique at the expense of functionality.
The iMac I am using is the latest 24 inch Apple M3. Its fast but complex. Simplicity was the reason for Apples success. I sense that compromise of the base computer is to meet the needs of things like iPhones and ipads etc. The saying that applies is Jack of all trades and master of none.
It's weird that you're claiming it's a rogue Windows dev team causing it, yet if you'd used any modern version of Windows you'd notice that despite some over-simplification of older features (that are gradually being added back in, thankfully) it's actually the exact opposite of your prejudice.
MacOS has been on a downward trend for the last decade. Meanwhile Windows and Linux have crept up and moved ahead in most aspects, especially when it comes to usability and features.
MacOS meanwhile has been adding useless features each year that no one asked for or cared for, with the end goal of making it as close to iOS as possible. Afterall iOS is home to hundreds of millions of people who only use iPhones because they're simple and easy to use. Therefore in order to maximise profit, MacOS should be the same.
Just like iOS, they have in turn neglected to fix long standing bugs and issues, and completely ignored adding much requested ease of use and quality of life features. Heck they recently, and finally, added window snapping to MacOS. Only it doesn't work, and is particularly buggy with Apple's own apps which serves as proof that they just didn't bother or care to test the feature. You're better off turning it off and continuing to use a third party app.
For years now they've also tied the animation when switching desktop spaces to the MBP's 120hz refresh rate. It literally takes DOUBLE the time to complete the animation unless you revert back to 60hz. It's a simple bug that's been around for an age, that many many people have reported. Guess Apple were too busy making VisionOS.
I use a MBP 16" for work but we regularly have to fix/setup W11 devices and Chromebooks. In 2024/25, the Chromebook comes out on top for both simplicity and usability. Everything you need to work efficiently is built into the OS. You lack creative professional apps, but everything else is there. Windows 11 is a close second but will always fall short due to the legacy systems and code that it refuses to let go of. MacOS is a very distant 3rd and if we deployed Linux devices here, it would easily be a distant 4th.
My biggest pet peeve is that we use multiple monitors, and I always have the dock hidden. You CANNOT easily bring the dock up on the external monitors when using a 3rd party mouse. It works perfectly to unhide the dock with the built in trackpad and using a colleagues Magic Mouse, but a peripheral other than Apple's own? No, you need to keep your cursor at the bottom of the screen and hope that it'll take less than 5 seconds to show the dock.
The long term future of Apple is going to be a rough one for anyone who's been with them since the early days. They don't care about you, they simply want to sell more subscriptions to teenagers and the elderly. They are a short term vision company that spoon feeds shareholders every year. The only actual hope you have is if somehow the replacement for Tim Apple doesn't care about counting beans.
