Groton, MA, September 28 2011: Today, the GNOME Desktop project released GNOME 3.2, the first follow-up release to its ground-breaking GNOME 3.0. With GNOME 3, GNOME undertook a major redesign and reimagined the user interface for the next generation of the desktop. From 3.2, GNOME is refining the project and starting to introduce new, modern GNOME applications that will deeply integrate with the GNOME 3 experience and which are designed for modern users.
GNOME 3.2 improves the sleek GNOME 3.0 by adding refinements to the visual theme, fully integrated messaging, new contacts framework and integration, improved document management, a new onscreen keyboard in addition to a number of other improvements. It introduces the building blocks for new application experiences and the basis for integration of online services.
As the GNOME release team explains, “the GNOME 3.2 release builds on the foundations that we have laid with 3.0 and offers a much more complete experience. From new applications for contacts and documents, a redesigned login screen, as well as high-end features such as color management and graphics tablets, it contains numerous new and exciting features and improvements. We are proud of what the GNOME community is delivering in this release, and we hope you like it. Give it a try!”
GNOME 3.2 is expected to be well received by users and its participant companies alike. Jim Whitehurst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat, stated “I am thrilled to see that the great innovation we saw in GNOME 3.0 continues to mature at such a rapid rate with 3.2.”
Juan Conde, Chief Free Software Officer at the Junta de Andalucía said, “Guadalinex has been relying on GNOME since its very inception. We currently have 600.000 desktops deployed in publicly-funded schools, and are now working in a new corporate GNOME 3 based desktop called GECOS (Guadalinex Standard Corporate Edition) that is designed for the everyday tasks of civil servants. GNOME 3 has been a big change for Guadalinex and I am glad to see that GNOME 3.2 improves the CSS and extension support to allow for easy user interface changes. For a government, accessibility is a must and GNOME provides it like no other. Thanks GNOME.”
“I’d like to offer my congratulations to GNOME team for their 3.2 release,” said Rick Spencer, Director of Engineering, Ubuntu, at Canonical. “Coming on the heels of the groundbreaking 3.0 release, 3.2
continues to offer innovation and refinement. We’re proud to have the great work in GNOME 3.2 as one of the pillars of Ubuntu 11.10. Ubuntu wouldn’t be what it is today without GNOME.”
Users and fans of GNOME have planned release parties in a number of cities around the world. The source code for GNOME 3.2 is freely available for download and redistribution and the release notes have been published. (Users are recommended to wait until GNOME 3.2 is available through a distribution or vendor, however.) Information on how to get GNOME 3.0 can be found on the GNOME 3 website. This site also provides 3.0 live images that you can use to try it out.
The GNOME Project was started in 1997 by two then-university students, Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena Quintero. Their aim: to produce a free (as in freedom) desktop environment. Since then, GNOME has grown into a hugely successful enterprise. Used by millions of people across the world, it is a popular desktop environment for GNU/Linux and UNIX-type operating systems. The desktop has been utilised in successful, large-scale enterprise and public deployments, and the project’s developer technologies are utilized in a large number of popular mobile devices.
The GNOME Foundation is an organization committed to supporting the advancement of GNOME, comprised of hundreds of volunteer developers and industry-leading companies. The Foundation is a member directed, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides financial, organizational and legal support to the GNOME project. The GNOME Foundation is supporting the pursuit of software freedom through the innovative, accessible, and beautiful user experience created by GNOME contributors around the world. More information about GNOME and the GNOME Foundation can be found at www.gnome.org and foundation.gnome.org. Become a Friend of GNOME at http://www.gnome.org/friends/
For further comments and information, contact the GNOME press contact team at gnome-press-contact@gnome.org.