Thank you for the share,interesting indeed. So far i am loving my ubuntu mate.
I don’t agree with everything said on the post as it misses many valuable points for beginners!. As an example, the software management in OpenSuSe is not intuitive for beginners!. (Just my opinion!). 
I started with Ubuntu 8.04, with the GNOME 2.3 desktop. It took me maybe ten minutes to learn how to use. I fell in love with it. Than, the GNOME devs decided to fix what wasn’t broken, and a lot of people, including myself, were unhappy.
I discovered MATE with Linux Mint, but I’m still an Ubuntu guy, and was installing Xubuntu and then MATE from a PPA. When Ubuntu MATE was announced, I went into my happy dance. Finally, a pure environment with my favorite desktop.
Life is good.