The Gnome desktop is quite buggy in the 44 release, but my Gnome 40 version is very stable and usable. If you are not using Wayland it is more reliable. I like the ability to use the media controls easily with the keyboard to control the Audacious media player. That is indeed very useful. Another very useful addon for Gnome is the ability to disable the overview on startup. A great way to get started right away without the annoying overview mode. Get this addon here: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/4099/no-overview/. And this one to further extend this desktop. A category-based applications menu for Gnome Shell. Add a taskbar to the Gnome desktop to make switching windows much easier. Taking screenshots of a window can be annoying, but this Gnome Shell addon will help you out. Take a screenshot of a window by right-clicking the title bar and accessing the menu to either save a screenshot or save it to the clipboard.
There is a new Bluetooth manager for Linux that would also be useful for using Bluetooth devices with a Linux PC. Download it here: https://github.com/kaii-lb/overskride.
Installation.
git clone https://github.com/kaii-lb/overskride && cd overskridemkdir -p build && cd buildmeson compile && meson devenvmkdir -p ~/.local/share/glib-2.0/schemascp ../data/com.kaii.Overskride.gschema.xml ~/.local/share/glib-2.0/schemasglib-compile-schemas ~/.local/share/glib-2.0/schemas./src/overskride
This should be a great addition for Linux on a laptop PC. Linux needs better Bluetooth support.
Getting back to Gnome, even the 45rc build has a lot of issues, this needs to be addressed, especially if they want serious users to actually use this desktop instead of Xfce or MATE.
Gnome bugs: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues.