Today I just tried the elementary desktop environment in my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. It comes with a Gnome style top panel, main menu on the left and indicators, user menu on the right. At bottom of screen it’s the launcher: Docky.

The main menu is only Applications button which shows items in page. The system tray area looks same to gnome-classic.

Just in personal opinion, except the themes and main menu, it seems like a customized gnome-classic session replaced bottom panel with Docky.

To Install Elementary Desktop Session in Ubuntu:

You can install this session via Elementary Daily PPA. The PPA might break your system, so use it at your own risk!

Open up a terminal window, and execute this to add the PPA (supports Natty, Oneiric, Precise):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/daily

Then update and install the desktop:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elementary-desktop

After installation, log-out and select ‘Pantheon‘ session to log-in.