I didn't really mind the fn keys being there. I rarely use function keys unless I'm RDP'd to a Windows machine.

What drove me crazy though was the escape key. They later added the physical escape key back but I think at that point it was a bit too late.

I’ve always been a “remap capslock to escape” kind of guy (vim), so I didn’t mind much. Access to the brightness (screen and keyboard) and volume slider was neat but superfluous with the OG fn keys. Context-driven controls were probably the best thing about the touch bar, and I don’t think it got enough love to make that stick.

Adding to the list of grievances, the functionality and the options it presented differed from app to app. I understand that the function keys also change their function app to app, but the visual noise the Touch Bar (wow - the word even gets autocorrected to have the right capitalization!) added as you switched between apps was too distracting.

Ah yea, I've only owned one with the physical escape key. That would be annoying.