Does Android really lack this basic precaution, or are you talking out your arse?

No - never seen an Android Phone that lack this

Also, it is indeed getting harder and harder to find (or build) a computer that doesn't come with 3D acceleration.

VERY, VERY hard...

How often do you need to read what's behind your console?

Not read, but seem (its a GUI man!): considering that, i must say: very often :P

Why anyone would want to run a heavy GUI on very low end hardware wasn't explained.

blockquote It still a mystery to me too :P

Yes, people in the third world have less access to free education. They also have less access to food, water, shelter and not getting killed by warlords.

Full agree with that - I'm from a "third world country" (Brazil): less access don't mean no access

Windows has the ability but I haven't heard anyone complain that a "geek" is needed to use Windows.

not to use daily, but to configure/fix simple things is...

Why not just make it so that you can put the bar on whatever side of the screen that you want?

Easiness to configure/use (no "geek" needed at all, everything must just work :P)

They don't - both are opensource: you can verify it.

some people need visual clues

I agree with that: GNOME 3 is full of this - even using several desktops is so simple and intuitive, that my 60+ year old Mom uses it: it's not a geeky thing, anymore...

Generally, concerning gnome3, it's nice for people who navigate with the keyboard.

Quite the contrary: users even switch windows by moving the cursor to the top-left edge of the screen (or clicking on "Activities", or issuing the super key on the keyboard) and clicking on the "window" (there's no visual clues in that? "Visual clues" are all over GNOME 3...) - never seen anyone using Alt-Tab (or Alt-[the key up "Tab"], for switching windows of the same app), besides myself...