Gnome Classic Desktop in Ubuntu 11.10

I think Gnome Classic Shell is more flexible and easy to use and I prefer this over Ubuntu Unity.  I'm not sure if Unity is up to the standards that we expect from a Linux desktop. Of course Gnome 3.0 looks professional and is very cool but I prefer simple and flexible workspace. After using all the possible UIs, I found myself comfortable using the classic. Not a big concern or issue, I also prefer to have the missing ubuntu logo in Applications menu. I also prefer to use the old style unified applet containing all of the indicators.

Install the Classic Desktop in Ubuntu 11.10 by just clicking this link or use the following command:

     sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

Log out , select Gnome Classic and log in.
You can customise the panel by using Alt + right-mouse-button sequence.  If you use compiz, use Alt+Windows-logo-key+ right-mouse-button.
To replace standard notifications area and use the old style “A unified applet containing all of the indicators”, you can update your system with unsupported packages by adding ppa:jconti/gnome3 to your system's Software Sources. This is from this untrusted PPA.

     sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jconti/gnome3
     sudo apt-get update
     sudo apt-get install indicator-applet-complete

Then, remove clock, notification area and user switch applet, and add a unified applet containing all of the indicators to the panel.

(source) If you want Ubuntu logo to be displayed in ‘Applications’ menu, open /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/gtk-3.0/apps/gnome-panel.css file and change this block of code:

PanelMenuBar.menubar.menuitem {
    background-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, left bottom,
                                     from (shade (@dark_bg_color, 1.5)),
                                     to (shade (@dark_bg_color, 1.05)));
}
to this:
PanelMenuBar.menubar.menuitem {
    background-image: -gtk-gradient (linear, left top, left bottom,
                                     from (shade (@dark_bg_color, 1.5)),
                                     to (shade (@dark_bg_color, 1.05)));
    -PanelMenuBar-icon-visible: true;
}