I really don't know why people hate Unity so much. If you don't want to be stuck in the last decade, regarding desktop workflow (Mate, XFCE, etc.), and if you want to actually use a mouse, your options are basically Unity, KDE, Gnome 3, and Cinnamon.
At the moment, I think Unity is the only one that is not a horrendous misdesign (Gnome 3) or consists of a shoddy and insecure plugin framework that is a moving target stability wise (Gnome 3 and Cinnamon). I never liked the fussiness and the looks of KDE. So far, Unity has been the most stable, configurable (Compiz) and, most importantly, productive experience for me.
At the moment, I think Unity is the only one that is not a horrendous misdesign (Gnome 3) or consists of a shoddy and insecure plugin framework that is a moving target stability wise (Gnome 3 and Cinnamon). I never liked the fussiness and the looks of KDE. So far, Unity has been the most stable, configurable (Compiz) and, most importantly, productive experience for me.