GNOME 2.8 is released [LWN.net]

Version 2.8 of the GNOME desktop was announced this week.

Released on schedule, to the day, it is the culmination of six months effort by GNOME contributors around the world: hackers, documentors, usability and accessibility specialists, translators, maintainers, sysadmins, companies, artists, users and testers. Due to their hard work, we have another great release to be proud of - thanks very much to every contributor!

The Release Notes provide an overview of the current state of the project:

"GNOME runs on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (commonly called Linux), Solaris, HP-UX, BSD and Apple's Darwin. GNOME includes powerful features such as world-class smooth text rendering, a first-class accessibility infrastructure, and a complete internationalization infrastructure that includes support for bi-directional text."

The What's New page details most of the improvements.

The GNOME file manager has numerous new capabilities. These include a new standardized file-type system that adds KDE compatibility, default handlers, and support for opening alternate applications. DNS-Based Service Discovery allows network resources to be visible locally. CDs, DVDs, memory sticks, and digital cameras are now automatically mounted. Multi-session CDs are now supported.

The GNOME desktop has a new Glider theme which is: "simple, smooth, and aesthetically pleasing".

The GNOME control center adds a keyboard layout preview screen that lights up when keys are pressed to show the key interpretations.

The GNOME Panel Applets have had several improvements. The panel applet chooser application has been clarified. The calendar now connects to the Evolution email client. The network monitor adds support for wireless interfaces and features a signal strength meter. The battery monitor has improved battery life estimation and more visible warnings. The weather applet has support for more locations.

GNOME 2.8 features several updated applications. Version 2.0 of the Evolution integrated Email and Groupware client is included. It adds support for Novell Groupwise and Microsoft Exchange, S/MIME authentication and encryption, calendar improvements, offline IMAP support, Usenet support, spam filtering, and user interface improvements. The Epiphany web browser has numerous bookmark improvements, popup blocking, an offline mode, and online calendar connectivity through Evolution.

System Administration improvements in GNOME 2.8 include a new virtual network computing client for remote desktop control. The gnome system tools, network tools, and configuration editor have undergone numerous improvements.

Improvements to the GNOME 2.8 Development Platform include an expanded API and official language bindings for Python, C++, Java, and Perl.

Internationalization is improving in GNOME 2.8. "GNOME 2.8 offers support for 40 languages (at least 80 percent of strings translated)."

For a visual tour of GNOME 2.8, take a look at some of the user submitted screenshots.

In all, this looks like an exciting new GNOME release with many usability improvements, and features that should make the average desktop user happy. Congratulations to the GNOME developers!

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