Health data scientist, Ubuntu user since 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx).
Ubuntu Mate was an obvious choice -- I was in distress when 12.04 came out with a rupture in ergonomics, saved later on by ubuntu-mate-desktop.
My goal is productivity, I use roughly 100 distinct applications, I need them organized through menus and docks, this is the only viable option.
In that perspective, Ubuntu Mate does the job.