Linux Planet delves into the latest edition of the popular GNOME open source desktop user interface. GNOME 2.30 ushers in a handful of changes, but perhaps its most important aspect is a closer look at the GNOME Shell.
The GNOME Shell will figure prominently into GNOME 3, a more sweeping overhaul of the GUI expected to debut later this year. Fortunately for the impatient, they can get an early glimpse of the technology in this week’s GNOME 2.30 release. But this week also represents another key moment in the GNOME project: The end of the GNOME 2.x version line.
The open source desktop world got a boost this week with the release of GNOME 2.30 — the latest incarnation of one of the leading open source desktop GUIs that’s a part of nearly every major Linux distribution.
With GNOME 2.30, the open source effort is adding new features that aim to make it easier to connect to online services, such as social networking giant Facebook. The new release also includes preview technology in the form of the GNOME Shell, which will become a standard component in GNOME 3, the next major release due in six months.