GNOME3 in the default install is unusable, not as bad as Unity, but bad. Luckily with some minor tweaking it can be made to work quite nicely. These are some assorted notes on how I got stuff working the way I like. From a fresh Ubuntu install, install GNOME3: sudo apt-get install gnome-desktop-environment Then: Normal focus mode: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences focus-mode 'sloppy' gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences auto-raise false Extensions: Caffeine - disable screensaver manually Frippery Move Clock Media player indicator Remove Accessibility Remove Panel App Menu Status Area Horizontal Spaces - reduces space used Weather - nice weather applet Windows Alt Tab (from: tglman, there are multiple) - alt-tab sanity Workspace Grid (from: mathematical.