Probably the closest to “Mac without a concussion” would probably be ElementaryOS with the Pantheon desktop, but I don’t really recommend it.

Linux is modular in ways you’re probably not used to. Windows looks like WIndows and that’s it, you can’t just uninstall the taskbar and install someone else’s taskbar. In Linux you can do pretty much exactly that. The GUI is a separate system that sits on top of the OS like Windows ran on top of DOS back in the 90’s and at airports today. There are several Desktop Environments (DEs) you can choose from.

For example, if you go to Linux Mint’s website, you will find it offered in three main flavors: Cinnamon, MATE and xfce.

The vast majority of DEs you’ll find in Linux are set up out of the box the way Windows is, in terms of basic UI elements. Most have a panel at the bottom with the application menu on the left, a window list next to that or centered, and system tasks and the clock on the right. A window has the minimize, maximize and close button at the top right, etc. Stuff you have muscle memory of using.

Gnome deliberately does things like that differently I think out of a sense of grudge. I used to hear Linux newcomers say things like “I tried Linux for a few hours and found you can’t even rename a file. Like it’s impossible to rename a file. Linux is completely useless.” And I didn’t understand how it was they could come to such a bafflingly dumb conclusion until I tried using Gnome and caught myself saying the same things.

Gnome also deliberately doesn’t implement a lot of features because they expect you to use the terminal for them. Other DEs like Cinnamon and KDE are actually finished.