Gnome may not be dead and it's nice to see them work hard to achieve a suitable user experience. However, I personally don't like the look of it. To me it seems the windows don't fit the rest of the U.I. The borders are too big, in my opinion and the buttons don't "feel" right or look right.
Usability wise, it's still lacking, I think. I'm a grumpy sob, I guess. I hope they succeed but I have to be honest, I don't think they will.
Thankfully, for those of us who prefer our desktops to work well rather than look good, there are always third party options for themes. I personally combine the "Holo" Gnome Shell theme with the "Adwaita Dark" Gtk theme, and I think the result is a vast improvement.
Usability wise, it's still lacking, I think. I'm a grumpy sob, I guess. I hope they succeed but I have to be honest, I don't think they will.
/end grump