I agree. I was putting a shout out for MATE as the option for those who want a predictable traditional UI since it is essentially the long-term maintenance of GNOME 2.

When GNOME 3 was first released, I gave it an honest try for several months but it just did not do what I wanted in a UI. MATE competes well with XFCE on memory usage, still has optional acceleration, and had a more consistent interface with more features (although XFCE has improved). And the fact that those in the family don't have to learn a new layout really helps.