Granted, I haven’t even tried to use it in years. So maybe it’s not so bad these days?
Luckily there are Norton commander clones available for osx.
I assume they didn't expect users to use directory hierarchies much and thought everybody would dump their files into flat dirs and search them with spotlight.
Display the path bar at the bottom and you can get to any level of parent in 1 click. Without the path bar you can also right-click on the current folder name at the top of the window to also navigate to any level of parent.
> no split screen
This is not something I've ever found a use for in any OS, I always just open 2 windows. It does have tabs, and you can drags stuff between tabs, albeit with some delay. This seems minor, unless for very specific workflows.
> you can't copy a path easily
Right-click file or folder, when you then press Option, Copy changes to copy path.
> you can't show hidden files easily
Command+Shift+. toggles hidden files on and off. I find this pretty easy to remember, since dots prefix hidden files.
> you can't customize the columns in list mode
Right-click the headings and you can add/remove the ones you want? Is that what you're talking about?
> there's no cut and paste
Instead of an option when copying, it's an option when pasting. Command+C to copy, then add Option while pasting... Command+Option+V. I almost never use Cut, even on Windows of Linux, I don't want to cut something, get interrupted, do something else, and lose my file. Having it move, then delete the source with the paste action, is safer.
It sounds like you haven't used Finder that much, or weren't willing to learn or adapt your behaviors.
There are some things about other file explorers I like, but I don't find myself struggling to use Finder at all. I mostly miss column view when I'm on anything that isn't Finder.
There's no up button, no split screen, you can't copy a path easily, you can't show hidden files easily, you can't customize the columns in list mode, the column mode won't let you go up, there's no cut and paste.
Windows Explorer sucks, but not nearly as bad as finder. Dolphin, thunar, and Nautilus on Linux have all those features and more. I have to drop to terminal or install mucommander just to do basic things in the macOS filesystem.