I do not like GNOME3 and Unity. The main reason being is that both of them try/tried to turn my PC desktop into a cellphone and a tablet. This one size fits all paradigm does not work. In Ubuntu I have been using the GNOME2 lookalike fallback desktop. Currently I am using Mint 18.1 with the Cinnamon Desktop which is great. In Mint I do not have to get typists elbow to find my installed software, I can add my shortcuts to the desktop and I do not have to install a ton of plugins like GNOME3 just to get it to work like a sane desktop should.

Gnome 3 is fine for me. I understand, that the older DE's from the 2000's are not going to be the de facto choices any more. But, the experimental stuff like wayland makes using Gnome shell a pain. For example. many apps won't even launch nor the input mechanism like ibus which works under Gnome Shell. This is on Ubuntu 17.10. In the Desktop PC I have a LMDE 2 installed which works flawlessly with Cinnamon DE. KDE may be still important. But, cluttering too many options may not be loved by all.