I think Path Finder is probably the only usable alternative, but some of your supposed "missing features" aren't actually missing. Please correct me if I misread you...
> Proper collapsible/expandable tree view
View -> as List: Check it out, tree view.
> Ability to see and create symlinks
Finder has this. Symlinks look like their originals but with a little arrow overlay. Drag and hold Command+Option to create a symlink.
> See file access, create, modify times
Again, Finder already has this (mostly). While in list view, go to View -> Show View Options and check Date Modified and Date Created.
> General single window operation - I shouldn't ever need to open another window to move or copy files
You don't need to. Command+C and Command+V work just fine with files.
> > Ability to see and create symlinks Finder has this. Symlinks look like their originals but with a little arrow overlay. Drag and hold Command+Option to create a symlink.
To be fair, this creates an Alias, which is a Finder/GUI level construct, and not a file system level contstruct like a symlink. If you're just doing things graphically, there's not a significant difference, but at the command line an Alias won't do you any good. Symlinks work the same at the command line or in the GUI.
(I know aliases are a holdover from classic, but I don't see why they weren't replaced with symlinks during the OS X transition.)
There's actually a very significant difference - a symlink just resolves to a fixed path, whereas an alias always resolves to the same file/folder, no matter where it is moved within the filesystem. They remember things like which volume a file is on as well, so if you were to have an alias on a file server or a disconnected drive it would automatically remount the server or ask you to connect the missing volume. (EDIT: Or at least, used to in pre-OS X times. Just tried it now with an external hard drive and it failed to ask for the volume back. Still works with file servers, though.)
That alias also points to the same file no matter which Mac it is moved to, so if you create an alias to a folder on a server, you can copy that to 10 different Macs and it will always resolve so long as it can contact the file server.
Since they act so differently, you really can't replace one with the other without breaking expected behavior.
Sorry for the mistake. When you do a normal "ln -s" on the console, it looks exactly the same as an alias in the Finder with the little arrow overlay, which is why I was confused.
> Drag and hold Command+Option to create a symlink.
That's not a symlink, at least not in the unix sense (not the same thing as 'ln' or 'ln -s', which I think is what the author is looking for, and what I'd like as well).
PathFinder indeed sounds like the best alternative.
A tree view in the contents pane is a little clumsy for my liking. And as another poster pointed out, Finder doesn't make real symlinks. Thanks for the info re: Date Modified and Date Created tho.
> Proper collapsible/expandable tree view View -> as List: Check it out, tree view.
> Ability to see and create symlinks Finder has this. Symlinks look like their originals but with a little arrow overlay. Drag and hold Command+Option to create a symlink.
> See file access, create, modify times Again, Finder already has this (mostly). While in list view, go to View -> Show View Options and check Date Modified and Date Created.
> General single window operation - I shouldn't ever need to open another window to move or copy files You don't need to. Command+C and Command+V work just fine with files.