Apple has, for the entirety of Mac OS X and macOS, has spent a substantial amount of time enhancing media and mobile quality of life. Catalina is no different. Take a stroll down memory lane: iTunes (was the amalgamation of the first three apps you mentioned), DVD playback, iChat, .Mac syncing, Dashboard (Widgets), Back to My Mac, MobileMe, Front Row, Photo Booth, App Store, iMovie, iPhoto, iChat, AirDrop, Messages, FaceTime, Game Center, and iCloud.
Some of the apps you mention have been getting updates for longer than just Catalina. Photos was launched in Yosemite, while Notes and Reminders launched in Mountain Lion.
I am sure we can both imagine people who were disappointed in 2007 when Apple redesigned Mail and were posting on digg about how Lion is more trouble than it's worth.
As for the lack of 32-bit support, this is really not a sticking point for customers who pay to have their applications supported. If a product is no longer being developed, why is it that you blame Apple's software update?
Oh, and another thing that isn't new: initially buggy releases of macOS