Ubuntu Gnome - works VERY well - if you enable the "window list" plugin for shell, it works as well as cinnamon.
You can also use some other distro like debian or fedora that also provides cinnamon.
And add minimize/maximize buttons and applications ("start") button. I have no idea why Gnome has to experiment, they have lost so many users unnecessarily. At least it's configurable to something sane. They are far from catering to the same feature-averse audience of iPad so there's no use in trying to (poorly) emulate its minimalist design language.
I prefer taskbar from 7+ and in my experience only KDE can mimic it, albeit clunkily. From screenshot it seems Mint is closer to XP. I think GNOME can be beaten to look more familiar and I can tolerate it. At least it now respects Windows key convention and runs its search functionality.