GNOME Revisited at 2.0

by Eric Foster-Johnson

July 25, 2002 —

GNOME (http://www.gnome.org) provides one of the two most popular
desktop environments for Linux, with the KDE environment
(http://www.kde.org/) constituting the other popular environment. Most
Linux distributions include both KDE and GNOME but the release of GNOME
version 2.0 has GNOME poised to content for greater favor amongst Linux
users.

Both desktop environments provide or integrate a window manager, a means
to launch applications, and a large set of included programs focusing on
productivity applications. Among the changes included in GNOME 2.0 is an
improved Nautilus file manager with new features and faster performance,
as well as major improvements to the general interface.

Less is More
The GNOME developers revamped the entire interface to simplify the
number of steps users must go through to get work done. As part of the
simplification, GNOME applications should run much better on older,
slower computers -- the idea being that less is more. By removing some
choices and simplifying the interface, life becomes a lot easier for
users. We'll see how well this holds out through continued usage,
though.

Thanks to usability testing and new development, GNOME now sports an
interface much more accessible for people with disabilities.
Additionally, 2.0 better supports user interface themes, along with a
new Web site for GNOME themes (http://www.sunshineinabag.co.uk/). In
general, the icons and look of GNOME 2.0 is a lot better than previous
versions. Put simply, it looks really good.

GNOME has advanced from just being a Linux environment too. GNOME now
runs on Solaris, HP-UX, BSD, and other forms of UNIX, including Darwin,
which is the BSD UNIX portion of MacOS X.

As always with GNOME or KDE, unless you are familiar with the process of
upgrading, it is best to wait for the Linux distribution vendors to
integrate the new version into their Linux releases. There are simply
too many libraries and too much work to do to upgrade to a new desktop
environment release. For example, the installation instructions list 60
packages that you must build, in order.

With all the gnashing of teeth over whether Linux has a place on the
desktop, GNOME 2.0 couldn't come at a better time. Linux unseating
Windows domination of the desktop is not likely to occur any time soon,
but each improvement helps make Linux a better system for users.

ITworld