new linux UI

Am I the only one who thinks that the latest "improvements" to the Linux UI have made a dog's breakfast out of it?  I'm talking about the window when not in a meeting.

I used to be able to park it in a corner of my screen, and when I wanted one of the functions, I'd click on it and a window popped up, and life was good.  Now it takes at least twice the screen real estate, and when I open a function, it wants to hog my whole screen.  If I don't move it from the upper-right-hand corner of my screen, I can no longer even get back to home.

I think the previous window was optimal, and many of the recent "improvements" have only served to make it a royal PITA.