Yes - I'm using Gnome3 "classic". It is ok - just doesn't seem as configurable as Gnome2. XFCE might be good - I just don't have the time to figure it out.
Yeah, at first I was annoyed with the lack of configurability in Gnome 3. But when I discovered you could press the super key and just start typing the name of a program to start it, I found it nicer to use than Gnome 2.