I used MacOS back in the Panther and Tiger days (10.4), then switched away, and started using Macs at work starting with maybe Monterey.

I was very surprised that almost nothing had changed in that long time! They got virtual desktops (finally), and widgets changed from an expose-like effect to only becoming visible at the right side of the screen, and tbh that's about it. All other "features" seem to be changes to Apple's built-in apps.

I think the OS still sucks about as much as in 2004, it's very much a matter of taste.