I like screen space and for me, functionality which one might barely ever use should be put under a menu and not be exposed as big permanent button which takes up my dear screen space. Another example is titlebars, I dont need such a big bar which provides little functionality and just reminds me of the programs name im looking at to be permanently taking space. Gnome 3 is terrible at that, there is a huge empty bar at thw top and your applications titlebar basically just wasting space which could be used to display e.g. more of the webpage you are currently viewing in firefox. Those bars should be merged into one. I dont see how this is dumbing down, unused space is just a big waste of ressources.