J. Clarke
(1) Since a Mac is a unix box, shell scripts should work fine on it. (2) Powershell on Windows gives just as much control as any Unix shell, possibly more so.

Floyd L. Davidson
That would be true if the tradition UNIX interface had been maintained. But an icon based desktop requires a very different arrangement for user files and projects.

While the shell is there, it is not nearly as effective to use.

And example would be that if you click on the desktop icon to invoke a text editor (or an image editor), it comes up with the same working directory every single time.

It reads and writes to the same set of directories every time.

And any subshell invoked will inherit the same environment.

Chaining filters together with pipes requires effort to use correctly.

The problems are just downright inconvenient. While the simplified icon interface is then attractive, even if it is not particularly efficient.