GNOME is much more than a window manager and you'd know that if you really were checking code out of CVS and compiling it. I'm doubting the truth of your post AC.
GNOME Shell took some time to learn and about a week to get used to but I'd never go back. It's a nice improvement over the old paradigm. There has been some regressions but nothing major and they're easily outweighed by the improvements. I think their movement towards integrating web technologies is great and I have yet to see other DE do it to the same extent. Did you know that you could style your desktop with CSS and write Shell extensions in JavaScript? Finding apps has never been easier. I just hit the meta key and start typing. Sure, other environments do that, heck even Windows does it now, but Gnome Shell does it better. I really like how dynamic creation of virtual desktops, how easy it is to move apps between them.
Most of the GNOME criticism seems to be towards Shell but I think that it's just because it's different and some people just don't want to learn a better way to do things. They find it painful and while I also find it painful sometimes, I know it's temporary and for long term benefits. I'll be using a computer for another 40 years so I don't mind investing a week here and there to make those next 40 years more enjoyable.