Mich ael Meeks (m ich ael@xim ian .com )

GNOME 2.6:

The Linux Desktop

“Stan d a t th e crossroads an d look ; ask for th e an cien t path s, ask w h ere th e good w ay is, an d

w alk in it , an d you w ill f in d rest for you r sou ls...” - Jerem iah 6:16

Overview:● Why Gnome ?

● What is it ?

– The stable plat form: 2.6

● What's coming soon ?

● Freedesktop

● OpenOffice.org

● The future.

Why Gnome ?● 'Free software on every desktop' (not 'Open')

● Predictable t ime based releases ...

● Independent Software Developers

– API/ ABI stability; a single platform to target.

– Meeting government a11y requirements

– Mult i- OS: GNU/ Linux, Solaris, HP/ UX, AIX

– Libraries free for commercial use

– Vendor support : Novell, Sun, HP, RedHat, IBM

Why Gnome ? (more)● The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)

– clean, neat, usability- tested GUI

– reduced feature exposure

– Supportable – elegant simplicity pays● Language bindings

– C – makes binding easier; C+ + , Python, Ada, Mono, Perl, Java, Eif fel, Guile, Scheme, Pascal ...

● Friendly community: irc.gimp.org #gnome

● Accessibility – a tough problem

Gnome: what is it ?● The (stable) foundat ion of a bigger whole

– Infrastructure

● system / portability abstract ion (glib)● widget / applicat ion (gtk+ / libgnome*)● Virtual f iling system● CORBA ORB & component

infrastructure● accessibility (a11y) foundation

● Applicat ions: ...

Nautilus:

Panel:

Evolution ...

Epiphany:

Moz illa u n d er th e h ood :th e real m agic bu llet :cod e- reu se.

And more:● Totem /

gstreamer:

(mult imedia)● Games

● Accessories

● Office suite(s)

● Communicat ion

● Devel. tools

● And more ...

New in Gnome 2.6 ...

● Fas t● Access ib le● Beau t ifu l● Sp ecifics

● VFS● Nau t ilu s● Evolu t ion● Gn om e- Meet in g

Performance ...● Always improving ... “ f aster than a speeding Gnome

desk top”

● gconf – parsing / scattered f ile (pw r t . panel)

● pango – kerning / caching

● GtkTreeView – huge dataset / f ixed height

● naut ilus

– mime/ type: ex tension, then snif f

– more eff icient remote access

– spatial – less clut tered / complex UI

● The File selector:

– Fear the Lart :

● new combo:

● New toolbar widget, artwork, RTL support

GUI improvements

● Improved ergonomics & complet ion widget

● GAIM + Groupwise integrat ion

IM improvements ...

● Mono:● W32● OS/ X● meta- data● replicat ion● caching, searching etc.● Nautilus/ Mono● File sharing / peer2peer

iFolder ...

Accessibility ...● Effort driven by Sun (& Baum / U.

Toronto)

● Government compliance – Sect ion 508 (US)

● Why it is hard:Im m ediate :

Ap pRed raw !

text '1 ', rect , rect , lin e

Con tain er

En t ryLabel

Tit le: 'En t ry 1 ' Text : ' '

AT: Ass is t ive Tech n ology

s ta te, as sociat ion styp es , even ts

Accessibility: - the Demo

● helping to shrink our potent ial user- base:

(new typing break capplet):

● Architectural improvement

– Daemon – GPL modules, [centralised caching]

– network:/ / - network places storage, sftp:/ /

– Keyring: - secure password storage, single auth.

– Improved IPv6 support

Gnome- VFS

File Man ager

Daem on

Im age viewer

SMBCORBA

CORBA

● Secure● Pretty

Remote hand- holding ... (vino)

Evolution – in development● System addressbook / contacts / calendar

– integrat ion with the plat form / ABI stability

● Re- designed UI / ergonomics

● S/ MIME & built in spam filtering

● Novell GroupWise connector

● C# plugin bindings

● http:/ / codeblogs.x imian.com/ blogs/ evolut ion/

● GAIM (& panel) integrat ion

● Lots of bount ies to go ...

Beau t ifu l Grou p wise in tegrat ion :

Also, Su n iPlan etMS Exch an ge 2k

Gnome- Meeting● Chunky improvements & ongoing

excellence:

– NAT tunnelling

– call hold / t ransfer / follow

– IPv6

– h323: &

callto:

support

– Improved look: HIG

Wireless / tablet / Gnome●Im p roved th in clien t p er form an ce

OpenOffice.org pieces

● Overview● Com p on en ts

OpenOffice.org – it rocks.● 6+ million lines of Free software

● http:/ / ooo.x imian.com/ - call for hackers

● OpenOffice.org 1.1.0 – give it another try.

● Gnome integrat ion– Now

● Print ing, VFS, theme colors, icons, fonts, local evolut ion contacts

– Under development● File select ion, gtk+ theming, Groupwise /

ex tended evolut ion mail- merge, improved ergonomics etc.

Freedesktop.org bits ...

● D/ BUS / HAL● X/ Cairo

DBUS / HAL / Gnome ...● D/ BUS – a system (and session) busA● Simple IPC, great for

secure event not if icat ion● HAL – hardware

abstract ion layer:

device events.● Requires Linux 2.6.X● Hot- plug: just works● http:/ / hal.freedesktop.org

Xserver / Cairo ...● http:/ / xserver.freedesktop.org/ - the future of

X

– Damage extn – what drawable changed where?

– Composite ex tn – off- screen&controlled render

● Cairo – PDF 1.4 renderlike

– vector graphics library

– AA text , alpha etc.

– outputs ps, pdf, png,

X11 (XRender)

The future ...

● Dashboard (Foo)● Tim eline● Dep loym en ts

Dashboard ...● A contex t sensit ive

associat ion engine – ( prototype )

A timeline ...

• A rou gh gu id e to th e b ig p lan :

2003 2004

2.4 2 .6

XD 2Evo. 1 .4 OO.o

2 .0Mono 1 .0

2005

2006 ...

OO.o 1 .1

2.8 2 .10

Mono 1 .2

Mono 2 .0

Conclusions:● Gnome is

– Powerful, simple, supportable

– ISV friendly & backwards compatible

– The only accessible desktop

– Well integrated with other leading projects

● Supported by all the signif icant players

● Links:

– Hacker blogs: http:/ / planet.gnome.org/

– Bounties: http:/ / www.gnome.org/ bounties

– This talk: http:/ / www.gnome.org/ ~michael