I just upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10 and I'm having a couple of issues that I didn't have with #10. First of all, when the terminal is transparent, it shows the desktop rather than the window behind it. Being able to read the window behind the terminal at the same time was a really useful feature of the transparency, but now it's just showing the desktop instead.
Second of all, the Windows key seems to be ignored. I mostly use it for "Windows-D," which shows the desktop. Is there another such shortcut or a way to disable the windows key?
I also switched back to the Gnome Classic view. I like it a lot better than the new view, but the new view had a way to quickly search files and applications based on the name. Where is this in Gnome Classic?
There are three questions here, it helps if you separate these into three different questions.
For your transparency issues, please see this question.
I'm not sure if the Super key is being ignored, or if that keyboard shortcut just isn't working. In the latest version of Ubuntu it was changed from Super+D to Ctrl + Alt + D. You can change it back in the keyboard preferences.
Thirdly, what you're talking about, I think, is the Dash. This is specific to Unity, which is not part of Gnome Classic. If you want to use the dash, you'll need to use the regular window manager.
There are other applications that do similar things though. Try Gnome-Do, for example.
As for the Terminal transparent thing you can set it to your preference by click on 'Edit' at your Terminal, select 'Background' and checked 'Transparent background' and adjust its effect with the slide to your taste. I don't quite understand the two remaining questions. It would be nice to explain them in details. Thank you.