Yeah - that was the thing. To traditional mac users, the finder wasn't a file-browser, full stop. It was a document viewer. Each folder was a document.

What would have been really nice would have been to get a clear, visually-distinct instance of both; to get a really clear "this is a file browser" tool in the finder, and a really clear "this is a folder" tool in the finder.

They're both really useful tools to have - what was awful wasn't gaining a file browser, but was how they mixed file browsing and folder viewing into this awful pea-soup thing that damaged a bunch of the value points of both tools.

I really like having a file browser, but there's a LOT of value to having something that treats folders as individual, stateful documents.