The GNOME Desktop Project just
announced the release of
GNOME 3.
From the screenshots, it looks kind of pretty. I have not used it yet so I can't comment on its usability and performance. The general response to this release is that the GNOME guys are changing things just for the sake of it (I saw the term "UI elitism" being thrown around).
I think it's a big change, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. When KDE 4 came out, everyone hated it. It was new and unpolished. Over time, though, the desktop just kept getting better. I think that's what will happen with GNOME as well.