Nobody is forcing you to use macs. Doesn't make the mac any less intuitive if it doesn't follow what alternative operating systems are doing.

Actually some companies do. You want Linux since the software you are writing typically leverages a Linux environment, but the company doesn't want to support Linux so gives you a Mac machine instead. Its a poor substitute for the real thing IMO on a number of fronts at least for me. While it still works some of the time I would prefer a different environment and enjoy things like better Docker performance, avoid compile time differences between ARM and x64, odd differences in Terminal command behavior, etc, etc.

It does make it less intuitive if it is hiding common interactions behind keyboard shortcuts (cmd+up instead of an Up button) or if it is inconsistent with common paradigms (different shortcuts for copy vs cut + single shortcut to paste is universal outside finder, which uses an entirely different paradigm).

> It does make it less intuitive if it is hiding common interactions behind keyboard shortcuts (cmd+up instead of an Up button)

Navigating to the parent folder isn’t exclusive to a keyboard shortcut (⌘↑). It’s also accessible from the menu bar (Go → Enclosing Folder).

It's not hidden at all - it's actually a very easily-discoverable menu item under the "Go" menu.

In regards to consistency, though I know this isn't exactly what you meant, I just booted a virtual machine with System 6 (released in 1988) and Command-Up was the same key command to open the parent folder. :)