2. When I close a tab, I want it gone. I don't want it still hanging around in my working space. I'm ok with it sitting around in a "Recent Files" location, but I am intentionally reducing my working space by closing a tab. The working files in VS Code don't work this way, the file hangs around and to the best of my knowledge I have to take my hand off the keyboard and use the mouse to remove it. Again, this is an important nuance that must be considered when you used to heavily using hot-keys to move between files.
Were VSCode to introduce hot-keys for directly jumping to files in the working files list, those two differences alone would make it nearly unusable for somebody who has over a decade of muscle memory built up working with tabs this way. It's also the same behavior I get and expect from other applications I use heavily, such as all my web browsers and my terminal emulator. VSCode is the odd man out.
It's been a few months since I tried to use VSCode regularly, so things may have improved since then and I'm sure there were other differences that I've forgotten, but this workflow works for me. I have alternatives that don't break my workflow (Atom, Sublime, etc).
I would really like to give VSCode a fair shot, but I personally cannot until the tab issue is addressed. It's too big of a change with little upside. Also, this is the only deal breaker for me. Other than this, VSCode looks and feels fantastic!
How so? I use them as a tab equivalent. If it's open there, I consider it an "active file" and switch between them as if they were tabs. I can close them and then reopen them at a later time, like tabs. They keep track of what files I'm working on, like tabs. The only real thing I'm not seeing is the keyboard shortcuts, sure, but you consider that an "also" so I'm wondering what else you're missing from it.