ITS NOT A BUG, ITS A FEATURE!
For the record, Unity is not "broken," it works just fine. Actually, I quite like it for the most part - but only after some tinkering. Naturally, any new interface takes a bit of getting used to, however, there are a few glaring omissions which need addressing. Some of these are rectified by a few clicks and tweaks (which I will explain), and some by simply getting used to the interface. But some are just default behaviors of the window manager, requiring developer intervention. Unity uses a window manager from GNOME 3 called Mutter. According to the Ubuntu manuals, mutter "is a minimal X window manager aimed at nontechnical users and is designed to integrate well with the GNOME desktop." This means that some of the omissions are intentional, to make a minimal and simple interface.
INITIAL REACTIONS
One of the first things you'll notice is the left hand application launcher. The app launcher is reminiscent of the Apple dock. You can launch apps with a single click, and you can add to it by right clicking the icon of an open app and selecting "Keep In Launcher".
Missing are the familiar top menu items; Applications, Places, and System. There is an "Applications" icon in the launcher. It's intuitive to click there to launch apps, but it's also where user preferences, utilities and system settings are located. That's less intuitive, but easily figured out. Just think of all of those settings windows as applications.
WHAT ABOUT THE PLACES MENU?