Many users of 
GNOME 2 dislike GNOME 3. MATE is a fork of the good old GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.
MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.
GNOME 2 dislike GNOME 3. MATE is a fork of the good old GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.MATE is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.
My favorite desktop environment, by far. Beautiful, simple and productive. When Gnome 3 came out, I spent a good while wallowing in agony at the horrible choices and extreme lag until I discovered that Gnome 2 had been forked as MATE. :)
Really nice, has a Windows Feel to it, and a Gnome feel to it, it combines both together. Would be nice to have the bottom bar taskbar to be more compact like Windows 7 and be square icons instead of it taking up that much space. Also a newer version of Gnome would be nice and make customizations easier.
MATE is a reincarnation of the good old GNOME 2.
Yesterday I've been testing Cinnamon vs. Mate and the solution was a fully surprising for me!
I've used my old Sony Vaio PCV-RS-702 with a little hardware upgrade of 2 GB RAM.
There is an old Intel Pentium 4 1xCore with 3.2 Ghz.
So it's a old pc to use for Internet and Office.
I use the 32bit Version of Linux Mint ROSA.
So the Test I make is 1st I've tried a clear Reboot and autamatically boot into the specific desktop. (Nothing in the autostart!)
Cinnamon used ~ 350Mb - 380Mb RAM and ~ 5% - 45% of my CPU.
Mate used ~ 315Mb - 375Mb RAM and 1% - 13% of my CPU.
Why I did make the experiment?
Because if I use Windows XP Home SP1 which was been sold to me with the PC 2003.
My Windwows Desktop uses just 200MB RAM and 1% - 3% of my CPU.