Yes - I'm using Gnome3 "classic". It is ok - just doesn't seem as configurable as Gnome2. XFCE might be good - I just don't have the time to figure it out.

Yeah, at first I was annoyed with the lack of configurability in Gnome 3. But when I discovered you could press the super key and just start typing the name of a program to start it, I found it nicer to use than Gnome 2.

Also, installing plugins for Gnome 3 is really convenient. For example, I didn't like Alt+Tab switching between programs instead of windows, so I installed this: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/15/alternatetab/.

There are still some things that bug me though, like I don't see any way to configure the format of the Date/Time.