Giving Up Gnome

Ok I tried my best to use Gnome. Just it's .... well very dumb. What I mean is that everything is disorginized and confusing. Trying to get Nautilus to do simple things such as set the background wallpaper required searching the net for a script or application to do it. Yes I know you can go to the settings and do it there but in my opinion thats counter productive. Thats another step I must take to perform a simple task. Anyways aside from that i wanted a terminal that could be hidden like YaKuake with a programable hot-key.
While searching I did find one but it was outdated and not compatible with the current version of gnome. So to make a long painful story short I've gone back to KDE. In a earlier post I made a statement saying KDE has too much for a default desktop, yes I know. Thanks to KDEmod however I've changed my mind! These guys are fellow Archer's that wanted to make KDE more lean and customized for Arch Linux users. Check out the link to find out more. As a result I can install only the applications I need, rather than get everything and the kitchen sink. I guess once you go KDE you dont go back.

Back To Gnome

Well I'm back on Gnome after a good run with KDE.  Nothing against KDE just that in a default install there's well .... a little too much. For instance you have 3 variations of the same application. An easy, medium and hard versions so to speak. But since I use vim/gvim, I personally have no use of Kate. Now I'm not bad mouthing KDE it is a great desktop.
Just that it's too much for me. A defualt Gnome install for me is very modular (at least on Arch Linux). 
I was very surprised to see how far Gnome has come, and to also see how far it still needs to go.
I won't start rambling about what I think they need to do. Anyways I am happy with Gnome for the time being.
Another reason I chose Gnome is due to Beagle.
Yes I know it has Mono as a dependancy but when you do cross development you really stop caring.
Anyways since Kat got scraped and Strigi is still in development Beagle is the only alternative. I do hope that Strigi becomes a competitor to Beagle, but in the meantime I'm using Beagle.
Having brought up the positives of Gnome, it's time to start being fair.
I still use Basket-Notes since Tomboy lacks the features that Basket has. Although I'm using both of them so I can make a definate answer Basket seems to be winning at the moment.
The transition hasn't been easy though. Having to look for replacements to certain applications has been a tough one.
Instance, replacing amarok, I went thru 3 music players till I remembered Exaile.
Listen and a few others either crashed or are just plain featureless.
I'm still looking to replace gnome-terminal but haven't had any luck yet.
Well back to the search to make Gnome more usuable for me!!!