Comment 72 for bug 882274

by the way, mint is doing it exactly right IMHO:
"What we’re sure of, is that if people aren’t given the choice they will be frustrated and our vision of an Operating System is that your computer should work for you and make you feel comfortable. So with this in mind, Gnome 3 in Linux Mint 12 needs to let you interact with your computer in two different ways: the traditional way, and the new way, and it’s up to you to decide which way you want to use. "
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1851
This is so true!
further:
"For this, we developed “MGSE” (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions), which is a desktop layer on top of Gnome 3 that makes it possible for you to use Gnome 3 in a traditional way. You can disable all components within MGSE to get a pure Gnome 3 experience, or you can enable all of them to get a Gnome 3 desktop that is similar to what you’ve been using before. Of course you can also pick and only enable the components you like to design your own desktop."
The Mint Gnome Shell Extensions seems to re a really good way to give the user the choice between traditional and new GUI methods, the user is in full control.
The reactions there http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1851 are also very positive.