Linux - Taming Gnome 3.x to work better with extensions

One issue both Windows and Mac users face when contemplating the change over to Linux is wrapping their heads around the idea that the Operating System and the Graphical User Interface (GUI) are separate and they have the option to choose one that works best for their needs.

Such options can be intimidating, because as users we have become so used to having to deal with whatever the major corporation, be it Apple or Microsoft, determines how we should work, how things look, how you should organize everything.  Most of us using either Windows or Mac just have to accept the idiosyncrasies and headaches caused by the bafflement of wondering what the heck the programmers were thinking (please see Windows 8) and try our best to get on with life/work.

The ability to have control over how my computer looked and worked was one of several reasons I eventually took the plunge years ago and started experimenting with Linux.