Jim, you make a good case for OpenSUSE.
The SLES 11 that I run has a nice desktop, but access to the Terminal is very inconvenient until one adds a shortcut, which seems weird because most Linux people like the command line.
SUSE people at a conference advised me to install OpenSUSE - it seems their advice was on-target.
OpenSUSE is a very powerful system. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to Linux newbies, since it's "quirks" with YAST can take some getting used to, and you need to do a bit more in the way of font tweaks, adding third party repositories for installing codecs, etc. compared to more newbie friendly distros like Linux Mint.
But, since you're already using SLES, you're already familiar with zipper. etc. So, OpenSUSE would probably be a good distro for you if you've used SLED, too (Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop) and are accustomed to YAST for software management and system configuration.
Except for the mint green color I do not appreciate, the only customization I made to Mint 17 was adding Workspace Switcher.
I'm not a person who enjoys customization, so perhaps KDE is not for me.
Well... I don't think Gnome 3 is a very good choice for most users of a non touch system. Have you tried to use it yet (versus the older Gnome release used by SLED)?
Basically, you get a totally blank desktop when you boot into a Gnome 3 desktop, with an Activities button in the upper left. That's it.
Then, if you click on the Activities button, you get a docky style bar on the left side (similar to what you'd see with Ubuntu's Unity interface), with application icons for favorite apps. As long as you add your frequently used apps (and some are already there by default like LibreOffice, Firefox, etc.), then you wouldn't need to dig through the "All Applications" section.
To see more applications, if you click on the bottom icon in the activities menu panel that appears on the left with icons for favorite apps, then you'll get a full screen view of your available applications.
But, there is no hierarchy of any kind, and they're not divided into categories like graphics, system, etc.
Instead, you get icons for everything installed on your system in alphabetical order, with a search box at the top of the full screen "All Applications" list (icons for all apps), although you do have another view of only "Frequently" used apps.
To each their own. But, for someone using a lot of different applications often, I think Gnome 3 is probably one of the the least desirable implementations of an application menu system for a desktop without a touch interface, when compared to KDE, LXDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, Mate, and more. Perhaps the Gnome developers are trying to make it more touch friendly or something.
I guess if you don't mind taking the time to add what you use more often to "Favorites", so that you see icons for them in the menu panel (docky/unity style bar) on the left side of the screen, then it may not be too bad, where you'd only need to use the full screen "All Applications" list on a less frequent basis. But, for someone using a lot of different apps, a menu system with a hierarchy of some type (at least divided into sections for graphics, system, word processing, utilities, etc.) would be a much better bet IMO.
Update...
It looks like you can use the Gnome Tweak Tool and get an applications menu divided into sections (like you'd get with other menu systems).So, perhaps it's not as bad as I thought.
Here's a review of Gnome 3.10 from last month mentioning that kind of thing showing the Applications Menu you can get with the Gnome Tweak tool, so that instead of one huge list of all applications in alphabetical order (what you see with a default install), you can get a menu with available apps divided into categories like most other menu systems provide
http://www.osnews.com/story/27745/My_Trip_to_GNOME_a_3_10_Review
But, first impressions of it left me thinking WTF; as Gnome 3 is just very different compared to a traditional desktop user interface and menu systems. I've got Gnome 3 available in my OpenSUSE 13.1 install (I can choose it from the login screen instead of KDE if I want to use it).
But, it's just so different compared to what I'm accustomed to, I haven't bothered to spend any time trying to use it. The same thing applies to my Win 8.1 installation. I avoid the new style interface and menus entirely via the use of Classic Shell. That way, I have a more traditional style desktop UI and menu system, instead of the new style stuff that appears to be designed more for touch screen use.
Again, to each their own. So, I'd try the latest Gnome and see what you think (as it does like you can customize it more to taste using the Gnome Tweak Tool).
If you want a UI that's closer to Gnome 2.x (like it sounds like you're accustomed to), then I'd use Mate instead of Gnome (as Mate is a "fork" of Gnome 2, and is also available for OpenSUSE 13.1). In fact, the OpenSUSE Education Li-f-e version I installed can also be downloaded with Mate now.
They also have a "Gnome Classic" download available (but, I'd just use Mate if you want more Gnome 2 features).
Personally, I just installed the 3.3GB .iso released in January (as it has both KDE 4.x and Gnome 3.x on the same .iso, with more default apps preinstalled). But, they have multiple "flavors" available including downloads setup with Gnome Classic and Mate desktops now.
Again, I installed the Education Li-f-e version of OpenSUSE 13.1 (3.3GB .iso with KDE 4.x and Gnome 3.x), since it includes more third party repos configured for YAST, more apps installed, etc. See the available .iso files here:
