I would call that reality distorted, requiring three fingers is hardly better than only needing one. The other problem I have with Apple is the difficulty in getting apps to use the full screen, especially the browser. Minor problems indeed, but no O/S is perfect.
I have found that when 1 of my fingers is in the area, the others are often close by...
That is not so much something that is broke but a purposeful design decision for the UI that some like and some don't. The "maximize" ("size to screen") button on OS X is really more like "size to content." The idea is that you're in an environment designed to use multiple windows you don't need to pretend you only have one, but you will often want your window to fit the content. Full screen also can freak out newbies ("Where did everything else go?!"). Pro applications designed to need maximum space often do have a full-screen mode though.
It's just differences in what designers think the best UI design is, and IMHO Apple's is the better way. I don't know the hard UI research on this specific area, so I can't say Apple's way is absolutely better or worse, just opinion.