Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 12th Mar 2008 22:59 UTC
The GNOME development community has announced the official release of version 2.22 after six months of development. GNOME is an open-source desktop environment that supplies a complete user interface and an assortment of programs for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. GNOME 2.22 includes some important new architectural features and a handful of significant new programs. Among the most important enhancements in GNOME 2.22 are the GVFS virtual file system framework, which brings improved network transparency to GNOME desktop applications, and the PolicyKit framework, which provides improved support for secure privilege elevation.
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Member since:
2006-12-24
The recent Gnome releases show a lot of polishing on the surface, whereas there is a lot of hidden work in the background to make the internals work better. The surface work gives the appearance of lots of activity much better than the behind-the-scenes work. I think KDE suffered from this problem while they were working on a lot of their infrastructure, like kio and kparts, or in the infrastructure overhaul in the last two years. Currently, KDE is doing a lot of surface work through plasma and so its activity is a lot more noticeable.
This Gnome release actually has one big change: gio/gvfs, which is a big hunk of new infrastructure that should make things a lot better in Gnome going forward.
Other Gnome infractrural work being done is an introspection/idl compiler; animation framework (perhaps based on Clutter's?); generic html widget with XULRunner and Webkit backends; closer collaboration with AWN as a possible replacement for the current panel; closer collaboration with screenlets; and dbus-based replacement for GConf in GLib.
One could look at Pigment and Clutter as experimental next generation toolkit ideas that GTK+ will steal from.
There is greater and greater interest in using the Vala programming language for Gnome applications without the need for a vm based language.
So, there is a lot going on, but it's a bit under the surface. KDE does a much better job at publicity and keeping its user base informed of what's going on. For Gnome, Planet Gnome and the desktop-devel list are the best ways to keep abreast, but are not as public as, say, dot.kde.org.