You're right about gdm, still I didn't noticed it until you told me. I think most people just change the wallpaper and at most apply a different control theme.

You're right about gdm, still I didn't noticed it until you told me. I think most people just change the wallpaper and at most apply a different control theme. Well I don't really get you point on the controls and screen estate then. To me "bulkier" controls precisely ease their use on netbooks and tablets. Well the search is a great feature if it is fuzzy and intelligent enough to match on related keyword. Now, for now, it doesn't quite work that way. Regular people don't dare searching because they might not even know what to search. So to me gnome-shell as a better compromise it does not force search on you. With Unity, if you don't want to search, you need extra clicks to get to the actual application list. There are currently 9 Gtk+3 themes on gnome-look.org that's hardly enough to leverage the possibilities of the theming engine. Better theme will come and will harness the power of the new the engine.