I agree with both of you.
I think that Gnome shell is an example of good design and change.
It tries to kill the unnecessary overused task-bar and try new ways of
working.
Once I realized the magic of the middle button for focus and "unfocus" and
the dynamic work-space generation, I felt that there is no need for using the
taskbar all the time.
Now I can't go back to KDE because how good Gnome-shell feels.
The new 3.10 version is incredible, it brings new things on the table and
manages to put interfaces like Aqua and Metro (Windows and mac) in shame.
Sorry guys, I could not contain myself longer to share my feelings about the
actual state of Gnome 3.