Future of Gnome Classic
I am a member!
What's the future of Gnome Classic? I googled it but couldn't get a good take on recent plans.
Gnome Flashback is probably the name you're thinking of?
I am a member!
I'm not sure whether Gnome Flashback is maintained anywhere but Trisquel and, maybe, Debian? Mate seems to be getting a lot more attention. Last time I looked at a distro based on Manjaro, there was a so-called Gnome Classic, done as shell extension(s).
I am a member!
Fedora's Gnome release (21 beta) has an entry for "Gnome Classic" in it's Display Manager menu, and it looks a lot like Trisquel's desktop.
To clarify, GNOME Classic is a set of extensions from the GNOME project for GNOME Shell, designed to provide a more "classic" experience. I can't find it in Trisquel's repository, though, and I don't see any articles about it for Ubuntu 14.04, so I guess it's unavailable here.
Ah, scratch that. It's definitely available in Trisquel 7. It's included with the regular GNOME packages (so, just install gnome-session and gnome-shell, and you'll have it).
I am a member!
I don't think Fedora's Gnome classic is Gnome shell. It doesn't feel like gnome shell. I've run gnome shell with all the extensions that make it look like the traditional gnome, and that's definitely not it. I don't know what it is, but I don't believe it's gnome shell.
Did you try GNOME Classic in Trisquel? I'm pretty sure it's exactly what you're thinking of.
You can install extensions from https://extensions.gnome.org (gcampax seems to have authored most of the extensions for GNOME Classic: https://extensions.gnome.org/accounts/profile/gcampax ).
GNOME Shell's extension mechanism is fantastic. It is sad many users do not know it exists. Another essential item to read about is http://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeShell/CheatSheet
GNOME Flashback:
https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/GnomeFlashback
Alive and well (at the very least in Ubuntu and Debian) and recognised by GNOME.