Also, curiosity.
Take window management, for example: If I want my windows to fill exactly half the screen, have one window on top of all others or move them from anywhere (just not the title bar), last time I checked it was just impossible out of the box.
Package management is another thing where GNU/Linux excels. On Debian, I am usually just a single “apt-get” away from having exactly what I need. The UI for such tasks does not seem to exist at all on OS X without third party tools.
In practical terms, Apple delivering outdated GNU utilities that are by now nine years old is something that should not happen with a modern operating system. I have encountered a lot of (non-developer) Apple users who do not know this and then wonder why something does not work.
If you would explain what makes the “UI being much better” in your eyes, it might help us to understand why exactly we think differently (heh) here.
My blood boils when I hear about linux on desktop because my experience always involved up keeping linux doing millions of easy things all the time just to make the thing run.
Some funny glitch when running Chrome? Oh that's because of the display driver, update it and you'll be fine but to update it you need to install some dependencies and to install these dependencies you need to add some repo. Oh great now the app that worked is no longer working because installing drivers somehow messed to the permissions of some folder, just run this command to fix the permissions and now you are all good. Remember that app that was crashing due to permissions? Yeah, it was due to a bug that is fixed on the new version now you need to run this command o undo the permissions change because the bug was fixed and now it's not working with the hack.
I like not maintaining my tools, I don't maintain my macbook except for installing updates when prompted and cleaning the screen and the keyboard every now and then. My uptime tends to be from OS update to OS update.
First, the argument against third party software to me is irrelevant, after all I use macOS and not, say iOS, because you can install these kinds of applications. Besides, from my point of view, almost all software on Linux is third party software anyway so I don't get the difference. For window management I install Spectacle and for package management I install HomeBrew and call it a day.
The UI to me seems superior because a) it looks better, b) it's more integrated with the system, and c) it doesn't bother me every 5 minutes trying to get my attention. I realize that looks are subjective but Linux has always looked "wrong", like it's unfinished; typography looks wrong, and the dimensions of the elements look wrong, some too big, some too small. Lately it has gotten better but still, the more deep you go, the less finished it gets. I guess one tends to like what one's used to. On my second point, macOS is the UI, not like on Linux where you can tell the Windowing System seats on top of the OS. It feels disconnected somehow, and as soon as something goes wrong, you are back on the terminal trying to hack your way back to stability. Lastly, macOS is not constantly begging for my attention. Windows is much more guilty of this than Linux is, but it still happens, showing you bubbles and messages for non critical tasks that ruin concentration. It also provides the information you need and very little else, the information is there if you want it, but it's not in your face. It gets out of the way, and lets me focus on the application and task I'm really interested in, not in managing the system.
And don't get me started on installing applications. Apt-get is fine if all you try to install is a low level package that is not dependent on anything else. As soon as things get more complicated you think about it twice before attempting to install something out of fear of it requiring a kernel recompile. In my opinion, dependencies and repositories are two words no normal user should be familiar with.
Of course, if you are a developer, or if you spend all day on the terminal I can see how your point of view might be different, or why you would care about your GNU tools being up to date. And I get how macOS might seem to someone coming from Linux, or even Windows, more limiting. But the truth is I don't care about the system that much, I want it not to bother me.
Lastly, and perhaps my strongest and more frivolous point, command-H to hide applications is the best shortcut ever. I haven't minimized a window in years.