I have been an ubuntu/POP!_OS gnome user for some time. I started using ubuntu back in the 6.06 days with classic Gnome. Then Gnome went away and then it came back but like other things that die and come back it was no longer the same. I discovered Mate about a year ago when I became frustrated with not having my gnome2 anymore. I am so thankful for this project which has restored my workflow that I built up over years. I am thankful for a distro that has been stable and efficient. I am looking forward to a future that does things well while not changing the things that already work great. Thanks to the devs and the community for keeping this thing going.
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Just a belated <aol>me too!</aol>! One of my major frustrations is that both Apple and Microsoft literally wrote the book on UI, only to break it over and over and over again, and to see the foible be repeated in Gnome.
The point where I gave up on Gnome was when in gnome-terminal, the UI for setting the word constituent characters was removed because the concept was deemed "too difficult". Of course it's friggin' difficult, that's why most users won't bother with it and the thing was hidden in an "advanced" config section to start with. Removing it, however, breaks gnome-terminal for precisely the folks who will support Gnome on the desktop for the needy -- you know, the folks who need a nice uncle to support Windows 10 but are open to switching to Linux on the desktop.
Not that it stopped me from being the nice uncle, fixing both Linux and Windows for folks that need it :- )
Not much I can add to what's already been said, other than: thanks for helping preserve this long time Linux user's sanity! Have been there from the beginning (original Red Hat user). Migrated to Ubuntu many years ago for compatibility reasons (read: I got tired of having to customize app installs on Fedora back in the days that was necessary). Have only stuck with Ubuntu this far because of MATE. But for that I'd probably be on Debian. Gnome Shell just got too damned tedious with every version removing (or simply breaking) functionality and control over my own desktop. I look at MATE as a set of tools that have restored that control. It's not perfect (Brisk crashes semi-regularly, but at least there's a Restart button!), but it lets me get on with my work. Once again. thanks to the whole MATE team for... all the things!
Ditto for me - tried Linux Mint MATE and Cinnamon - just didn't feel right. The lack of current ZFS support there also was a deal breaker.
I find the "Redmond" desktop layout just works for me.
Keep up the good work!!!