There are many applications in the GNOME desktop which we use and love too. Some of them are developed upstream at GNOME while some are developed by enthusiastic people downstream at usually distro level. Many of these downstream developers have closeness to one or more distro. Many of them are even made by individuals in their spare time and they are not started for ending up as official GNOME app.

Example:

Solang, GNote are developed mostly by people who have connections with Fedora.

Zeitgeist, Gnome Do are developed by individuals/group closer to Ubuntu.

Now read the rant from Seif Lotfy regarding Zeitgeist not being part of GNOME 3.

What we got from upstream GNOME

Nautilus, Evolution, NetworkManager, Epiphany

What we got from downstream/individual developers?

GNOME Do. Zeitgeist/GAJ, Docky, Pinta

Which apps do you love the most? From upstream or downstream ones? Fodder for thought.