The primary aim of the Ubuntu MATE desktop is to provide a "familiar" desktop with the goal being to preserve the "Traditional" desktop experience, while integrating much of today's technology without falling into the same tropes that made Unity and GNOME Shell less desirable for end users. Whether familiar entails Mac, Linux or some other OS is entirely up to a user's previous experience, and the panel layout options in mate-tweak are intended to emulate — to some degree — existing desktops so familiarity can be improved by mimicking another desktop's workflow.
The desktop provided by users when they first sign into their account harks back to the old days of Ubuntu 5.xx before it was even ratified to have six-month update cycles; the time when Ubuntu was fresh and new to so many, using what other avid linux users had on their screens before Ubuntu was even a thing. They used Debian as a base, made software to go with that and claimed it was Linux for Human Beings. (Before they dropped that slogan.)
Making Ubuntu to please Windows users isn't exactly what Canonical was doing back in the day, but projects to make Ubuntu easier for Windows users like Linux Mint came into the fore. Then it went beyond making GNOME 2 easier for users of Windows; it was full of docks and desktop alternatives that Windows users just hopping onto Ubuntu tried to grow into per writings from omg! ubuntu! and Webupd8. Discussions full of colour with a rainbow of variety which would eventually spawn the software we have today... for better, or worse.
That's where i have to tell you stop right there. Being the most popular, and being "[B]lack box [easy]" is why you have the breadth of software for Ubuntu, at all. As much fondness as I have for the terminal, as cool as it is to have a custom shell, as awesome as it is to play with text files in nano or vim and watch what happens, at the end of the day I just want to install something and have it work with maybe ticking a few things on or off. It's something you'll grow to know when you get older and have a life where you can't just sit on ass with a cup of coffee and make a day of debugging what's not right without a GUI.
And hey! Maybe you don't ever have a life where you're forced to not play so much with your computer. Maybe you can spend the better part of your life tooling with text files and making cool stuff cooler by typing a line of code here or there. But Ubuntu did not get to where it is today by making things difficult. And similar projects follow the same vain, such as Manjaro for people who want to play with Arch Linux, and Korora for Fedora (even though admittedly, base Fedora is pretty damn easy to begin with).
Arguably, Linux isn't where it is today by making things easy either, but easy didn't exist then. The reason Linux is where it is today is because of dedicated people who laid the roadwork. Now the roads are built, everybody else can drive upon it and make their way to wherever, and whatever faster. Not everybody can forge their own path, and most people aren't willing to make Slackware or Gentoo work. Sure it's fun to try a more hardcore, bare-bones Linux, but going off-road and doing your own thing is only fun for so long. Eventually most people just want smooth roads to traverse upon.
And... that's cool too! Everything is cool! But your candor makes it seem like you're implying that everybody else should be doing things your way. Poking fun at ideas without presenting some perspective to support the contrary beyond That's how I want it makes you seem like an elitist. And that's not a good look for anyone.
There is no winning in a world that had already been won. Simply degrees of losing for people following the leader, and an exchange of power over time.
@lah7 probably a topic split is ideal at this point, but i simply couldn't let that comment go without an impassioned response.
Stephen's words would be inspiration instead which will encourage discussion. Looking at the number of 
's your posts received, it seems people have an interest in this area.