I don't know about Windows but on the Mac it's not spatial mode (and hasn't been since OS9) - it's just a poor imitation. You can easily have two Finder window

I don't know about Windows but on the Mac it's not spatial mode (and hasn't been since OS9) - it's just a poor imitation. You can easily have two Finder windows open on the same folder, meaning you lose the immediate recognition that spatial mode gives you. My personal take - they should have two types of Finder window - a spatial "folder contents" window and a folder-browser (probably in column-view) that only shows folders and maybe a preview of the files within. So you can navigate quickly/enter file-paths in the browser, but to actually use a folder, you enter spatial mode, so you have the instant recognition of where you are.