I started using Ubuntu 8.10 with Gnome 2 and Compiz on January 2009. I've stopped thinking for a while what I'm getting with Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 20.04 now that I didn't had in 2009. The only important feature I came out with is gsconnect / kdeconnect which maybe would have been impossible with Gnome 2 but maybe not. Everything else feels like nice to have small esthetic improvements which I would do without if I think all the time I had to spend configuring out all the new stuff I didn't like. I used Gnome Flashback until the upgrade to 18.04, when I was sure I could put together a dozen Gnome shell extensions to get a desktop I could live with. Switching back to Windows or to a Mac with the OSX GUI would have been worse for me. Tastes.
Then there is the inevitable maintenance to keep the desktop environment compatible with the world that is changing around it. Kernels, drivers, etc. "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."
Then there is the inevitable maintenance to keep the desktop environment compatible with the world that is changing around it. Kernels, drivers, etc. "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."