First - No desktop icons. That is going to take a little getting used to. I don't use them all that much anyway but I still like to have them there for commonly used files and applications. But now that there is the favorites bar on the left, that pretty much takes care of the desk top application links and I really should be keep my documents and things in the proper location anyway so its no big deal.
Second - Search. When you bring the mouse to the upper left corner or click activities, in addition to getting the favorites bar on the left, desktops on the right and open windows or applications in the center you also get a search bar that will narrow the list of applications to what you enter. So, for instance, I type Blue and I get Blue Fish Editor and Bluetooth settings. It also has the option to search Google or Wikipedia for the search string you typed.
Third - Minimize and Restore icons. The normal options of close, minimize and restore are replaced with just a close icon, although Chrome still has all 3. This is a little awkward but you can right click on the title bar to use these functions.
Finally - IM. When you receive an instant message you get a notification with the message in the lower center that doesn't interfere with what you are doing. Hover your mouse over and it opens up with a place to type a reply so you can IM with someone while doing other things without switching back and forth between windows.
Overall I like the new UI but I guess like anything that is new, you aren't going to love everything about it.
-Z
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