Not OP but, for one, it mostly removes the need for a split view and tabs. You just place the few windows you'll use on the screen and drag and drop whatever files you want to move or copy. But I can see how a true split view could be nicer sometimes.

As it remembers the last position of your windows (screen and scrollbar), it makes navigating your most frequently used folders real easy, as you can just memorize their positions without noticing.

Regarding the window management points, there are menu actions (with associated hotkeys) to close entire hierarchies of folders or all the windows. To go 'up' you can use the parent folders list in the bottom corner of the window, or press either backspace or Alt-up. That is still less convenient than the back button, though, but the parent folder's window should still be at the top of the window stack after the child's.

As for long jumps, the spatial mode still has the tree view, at least here on Ubuntu (but I doubt they just patched something so big themselves). Also, there is Ctrl-l to get an address bar with auto-completion. Though I'd wish it showed you a list with the possible completions...

But I guess this is all a matter of workflow. I got used to it and now it is all in my fingers.

Infuriate all sorts of fanboys, providing... how do they call them? Ah, yes! Drama and lulz on teh internetz, and thus more visits to the sites that host discussions on the subject, and thus more ad-revenue, bolstering the economy.

You see? The GPL provides a great public service.

Hold on right there mister!

We are not just talking about bean-counting here, we are talking about the workings of society. The fact that you mistake the study of enterprise and economy for advertising and accounting only speaks of you.

The very fact that you produce stuff independently that serves other people's needs makes you an entrepreneur by definition, even if you don't seek to maximize profits, or profits at all.

Perhaps you should look a bit more into it before flamin' away in teh intertubes, for right now you are in the unenviable position of being corrected by a lame CS undergrad.