In some ways X11 with it's focus follows mouse, don't raise on focus, select:middle click paste features provide a far more refined desktop experience then mac or windows ever could. No wait, stop laughing, sure X11 was a garbage fire when it came to consistent professional design, but because it was such a wild west of an environment there was place for real ui innovation. I know, I get grumpy fast without middle click paste. And I hate having to raise a window in order to click and type on it(A common access pattern for me is to read docs on the top window while I am operating the bottom window).

Cut-buffer (the middle click) I just can't live without. People that never experienced that still get awestruck with the ease and effortlessness.

And virtual desktops/workspaces also had that awe-effect back then. Although with multimonitor setups this faded a bit.