IIRC, if you "closed" the gnome one, it went to the systray, which is a UI problem all its own.
Also, you can pause the win8 operations, not just cancel them.
As for ugliness, this seems to be a shot of Hardy, give or take, so 2008-ish. I would say that the Ambiance theme that debuted to much controversy in 2010 is improved over the screenshot. (And neither of these are Gnome's default.)
IIRC, if you "closed" the gnome one, it went to the systray, which is a UI problem all its own.
Also, you can pause the win8 operations, not just cancel them.
As for ugliness, this seems to be a shot of Hardy, give or take, so 2008-ish. I would say that the Ambiance theme that debuted to much controversy in 2010 is improved over the screenshot. (And neither of these are Gnome's default.)