Some of the Finder keyboard shortcuts seem very counterintuitive; for example, the arrow keys move the selected item (same as in Windows), but although opening the selected item(s) is a very common task and one would expect that to be mapped to a very common key like Space or Enter like all the other file managers I've used, I believe one of those initiates a rename (a relatively uncommon operation) and the other does nothing, and the actual shortcut to open the selected item is Command+DownArrow or Command+O. I guess they make sense in their own way, but apparently I'm not the only one who finds this very unusual and confusing:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/6727/why-does-the-...
https://superuser.com/questions/59007/enter-to-open-a-file-i...
https://superuser.com/questions/176450/open-file-shortcut-fo...
https://superuser.com/questions/134892/how-to-open-folder-wi...
https://superuser.com/questions/119871/how-do-you-open-a-fol...
In the end, I'd rate both (Windows nad macOS) as equally painful/unintuitive to use without a mouse.
I can still see the underlined letters. Are you on Windows 10?
For max fun though, hold down opt/alt while you have a menu displayed and watch the options change.
The majority of Windows applications I've used also follow that (using Ctrl instead), because the unmodified keys will do something else (like inserting the pressed letter, in a word processor/text editor); the difference with Finder/Explorer is that browsing through the filesystem is the primary purpose, and arrows/Enter/Backspace to move selection/select/go back are far more convenient and easy to use than arrows/Cmd+O/Cmd+[.
I wonder if there is almost some sort of vi/emacs divide here.
"intuitive"
> this is just the most obtuse way of doing things.
Perhaps that was a bad example of the incredible leg-up Mac OS X had over Windows around printing... all-around, printing was so much more straightforward on the Mac.
To extend the example: (a) printing to PDF has always worked - no need to install a 3rd party "PDF printer"; (b) PDFs and print spool jobs are indistinguishable, hence "drag a PDF to a print spool" works fine. (c) Accidentally printed to the wrong printer? Easy to fix - just open the intended printer and drag the job from the wrong one over.
> Just drag/drop a PDF to a printer spool window, and it will print;
this is just the most obtuse way of doing things.
> usually you just have to drag it to the Applications folder; to uninstall it, simply drag it to the trash;
So does this, and unreliable as you noted - i.e. usually. But, ugggh... dragging things to other things to do things though?
There's a reason why certain large classes of disabled users are on Windows. Stephen Hawking used Windows.
Aside from the disabled, the mechanics of Windows have always been better, no matter how bad they actually were. That last bit is my opinion, but it is true that many, many more disabled users are on Windows. If they can figure it out, couldn't your roommate? I'm joking of course, some people just seem to have a completely different way of thinking about things and certainly it is a fact that at least some portion of the population prefers the way macOS does things just like there are some people who can only use their chin to move a mouse.