I agree with you, my SO is fine with it also. I'm talking about the design process. I really like the direction that Ubuntu is going. It's being designed for the masses, but the pressure on ubuntu is from the power user crowd.

I think it will go nowhere because the current linux user base will be holding it back. Gnome3 and Unity are fighting this tide also.

I don't think the state of the linux desktop should be, "Copy XP and put a real shell behind it".

Ubuntu's mission statement from the start was linux for normal users. They always said that they were trying to provide a desktop for regular users, and their argument was that there are already heaps of distros out there for power users. It's not a new direction they've taken, it's just when they had the opportunity to simplify, a lot of users didn't understand what their core mission was.

Besides, if you want a Power User version of Ubuntu, just use Debian.