My family switched to Gnome 2 a couple of decades ago. My mother quite liked it and has consistently installed it on every new computer she bought. Her only confusion lately has been with the ubuntu snap packages and how they behave between multiple accounts on the machine.
These days she uses MATE which still offers that Gnome 2 layout. Awesome thing about Linux is that option to fork, so her desktop environment has remained consistent for over 20 years.
My mom's been installing Ubuntu on her own. I've not been involved in the process and have no remote access to the machine to even fix the snap situation.
At home, I run a mix of Devuan and Gentoo.
At work, primarily Devuan with some Ubuntu where COTS only officially supports Ubuntu or Redhat.
I agree. I was putting a shout out for MATE as the option for those who want a predictable traditional UI since it is essentially the long-term maintenance of GNOME 2.
When GNOME 3 was first released, I gave it an honest try for several months but it just did not do what I wanted in a UI. MATE competes well with XFCE on memory usage, still has optional acceleration, and had a more consistent interface with more features (although XFCE has improved). And the fact that those in the family don't have to learn a new layout really helps.
These days she uses MATE which still offers that Gnome 2 layout. Awesome thing about Linux is that option to fork, so her desktop environment has remained consistent for over 20 years.