Mate1.8

[buzzingrobot]

...
A lot of Windows refugees would like Mate more than Unity because it's more like Windows.

The bottom panel in MATE, as wells as KDE and XFCE, by default behaves a lot like the panel in Windows. So, folks who don't know yet that there are alternatives to running everything on a single workspace and constantly minimizing, opening, and shuffling windows around will feel more at home than on interfaces like Gnome and Unity that exploit multiple workspaces and don't really require minimization at all.

[oldrocker99]

MATE actually is a bit more like the Mac, with menus at the top. Having never used a Mac much, I still learned how to use GNOME 2.x, which came with Ubuntu 8.04, in about 8 minutes, and MATE is a fork of the old GNOME, back when it was still useful. It's still being developed, and it will only get better, unlike (IMHO) GNOME 3.x, which (again, IMHO) has regressed and taken features out that used to exist, all in the name of "making GNOME better."

Better for whom? I've been usng MATE since 1.2, and it is very lightweight (comparable to LXDE or LXQT), and lets me do what I want my computer to do, the way I want it to work.

[vasa1]

Don't most Ubuntu flavors, not just Unity and GNOME, have multiple workspaces available?

[tgalati4]

Does anyone remember the switch from KDE 3.5.6 to 4.0.0? It was a rough ride at first. The switch from gnome2 to gnome3 is similar. Whenever a major framework undergoes a rewrite, many things won't work out-of-the-box. To the end user, it seems obvious that everything should work. But under the hood, there is a lot of programming work that is needed to regain the "old" functionality.

So while some folks dismiss MATE as a deadend Desktop Environment based on a deadend framework (gnome2 codebase with MATE fixes/enhancements), it works for many users. At some point gnome3 will reach that level of familiarity and function for all users. Perhaps it is close to that point already. Can anyone argue that the current version of KDE has less functionality than the old 3.5.6 version?

[buzzingrobot]

MATE actually is a bit more like the Mac, with menus at the top. Having never used a Mac much, I still learned how to use GNOME 2.x, which came with Ubuntu 8.04, in about 8 minutes, and MATE is a fork of the old GNOME, back when it was still useful. It's still being developed, and it will only get better, unlike (IMHO) GNOME 3.x, which (again, IMHO) has regressed and taken features out that used to exist, all in the name of "making GNOME better."

.

Gnome2/MATE's menus are panel applets, and the panels can be located on any of the 4 edges of the desktop. Different distros default to different panel locations.

Most interfaces seem to me equally easy to use (not to setup) once I decide to use them as intended. Doesn't mean I like using them equally, though. Menus, Dashes and Overviews all work well enough when limited to a smallish number of entries. I.e,, one level deep and quickly scannable. No one seems to have a good way for users to find and launch the hundreds of executables often on a system, though.

[rosswmcgee]

Well I stared this thread and lots of good opinions here. We needed to replace three old computers, I put mate on one for my wife, and the other two ubuntu 14.04lts. Not only did I prefer

mate but I like opera the best too. So one of the ubuntus I did install mate and opera. On the third I went with the unity desktop and decided to force myself to use it. So now to be truthful

I have come to use Firefox, Tbird and the unity desktop. Now as one of the commensts here suggested in his note, I prefer it. So a beautiful thing about ubuntu 14.04 is I can choose

a number of different desktops. My older computers were if you can remeber that far back had 1.8 gb hd's, and ubuntu would not install on them. Now I have 3 computers with 1 tb ea.

thaniks for all the comments. If my memory is correct I started my first linux os with a distro called LIndows, then they became Linspire and I do not know what happened after that, I have

used so many distros I lost track. I prefer debian based linux, and have not paid for a computer os at least 30 years. I usually wind up back with Ubuntu.

[user1397]

I tried the ubuntu mate beta a couple months ago and for some reason it seemed to lag a lot on my computer, like way more than unity or kde. I'll try it again, I would definitely consider going back to the gnome 2 way of doing things; it was what I was used to from the beginning of ubuntu for many years.