I just want to throw out a big thank you to Marty for giving me a reason to not only enjoy computing again, but to actually feel like I have a choice in how I connect to the world today. As I turn 60 this year I remember all the trials and tribulations of going from paper and pen to computer like records for every daily activity. The programs of DOS, Unix and all the rest of the current technologies of the time dictated how we transformed our daily tasks into the new means of tracking information. Microsoft (Gates) got the jump out of the gates with a more user friendly approach that caught traction but his buddy Jobs had a broader vision which gave us another choice which gave us our first real choice. At the same time there was another vision that was embodied by individuals which not only embraced the technologies but understood that this new “7th sense” should be available to everyone. And that is why I thank you Martin and the many others that have sacrificed so much time and effort in to making computing both a friendly tool and a pleasure to experience.
Thank you for your kind words 
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I love it! Ubuntu Has become fat and ugly, and Mate has given a breath of fresh air. I’m Here to stay!!!
Indeed @John_Bielaski
I’m also running toward the latter days of my life (not just as close as you but getting there soon) and Linux is the perfect environment for those tech savvy among us that witnessed the whole history of personal computing and wish only to free themselves from the burden and the pressure of commercial tooling.
I have been force-feeding myself Linux for the past 2 years, as I forced myself into a transition from the world of Microsoft that I have know since the very early days of MSDOS. Today I know I will never get back. But in the meantime I have been struggling to decide what distro to use.
I have been since an user of Arch and Linux Mint. But both presented different challenges that just made me realize they couldn’t be my default choice. Ubuntu MATE strikes at the very center of those two distros with a stable easy to install and maintain operating system, while offering more up-to-date repos that don’t force me to replace almost all my applications for PPAs or build from source.
In the end Ubuntu MATE makes me feel relaxed and good about my computer, just like you said making me enjoy computing again. It’s the perfect companion for someone who wants stability and calm in their life, with just enough beauty, along with a powerful environment that will allow us to share all of entertainment, work, programming and research for the rest of our days without a worry in our minds.
I’m deeply thankful for @wimpy for having started this project and realizing the importance of keeping what has been so far the excellent Ubuntu core and repos, but also understanding that a good deal of users actually believe that the user interface principles that guided the early gnome project are actually pretty much still valid and do not warrant any kind of major change to presentations and workflow. Thankfully to him, and us, another excellent visionary was working on MATE.
And am also deeply thankful to the whole team that joined @wimpy, whom without their dedication and effort, the project couldn’t have gone this far. I’m here to stay; and with only one major transition in my whole life as a computer user, I no doubt know this to be true.
I have always been an experimenter in electronics and began in 1977 with single board computers. Pretty much like the other posts seen here before me. Ubuntu and Mate have genuinely turned a curious little computer like the PI 3 into full functioning PC. A friend suggested that I stop playing with Raspian and try a full fledged OS. Well, I’m pleased to state that I use the PI 3 as a full-fledged PC now with Libre Office. Dare I say, that I too will be turning 60 soon as well. It feels like I did in the early days of micro’s again. The analogy is simple. In those early days, the corporate types scoffed at my simple, “toy computers” while they labored under IBMs, DEC, Amdahl, et al. I felt that I chose a more enlightened path by staying with the micros. In similar fashion today, I feel that the Windows and MAC crowds are once again scoffing at my little micro. Yet, I stay the course and follow the more enlightened crowd once again. Kudos to all the tremendous work that must have been involved with this endeavor.
I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of praise. Ubuntu MATE has been solid as a rock. I have it running on my ThinkPad X200 right now, and while every other OS I’ve had on this machine has had the fan turned up to 11 pretty much constantly, with Ubuntu MATE the fan has about as much work to do as the Maytag repair man.