I like being given a workflow designed by UX engineers, it means I don't have to think about it and I can just do my work instead of figuring out the best workflow.

And that's perfectly fine, and probably the most sensible thing ad well. However. The user should have the option to do whatever they want to.

My opinion is that computers should stay out of the way as much as possible. It's an appliance.

Exactly! And that's not possible if you have to fight it every time you use it.