Ask HN - LaunchPad Replacement on MacOS

Can anyone give me a good reason that Apple removed Launchpad? My app launching/finding workflow has been disrupted since... Spotlight, doc and LaunchPad worked so well in unison.

Spotlight for quick launches Doc for my most used Apps Launchpad to provide an at a glance view of most my other apps that I had a visual memory of which apps were where.

I have an efficiency gap now that I can't figure out how to fill. The new app launcher may as well be as easy to navigate as going to the Applications folder and opening that.

Is anyone else having this issue? Has anyone found a good workaround?

nb - I suspect they did this to unify and force users to consider iOS apps in their MacOS use. But, I speculate.