Years ago, one of the most intelligent and brightest guys I worked with was using xfce

His setup was almost non existent apart from few customisations.

I remember he told me that xfce was the best one could get, while not being unpolite, he implied the problem was that people liked too much too have bells and blinking lights.

I kept using for a while what I was using, but after giving a try, yeah, that was all I needed.