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89-396: GNOME ( /ɡəˈnoʊm/, /ˈnoʊm/ ) originally an acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment , is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems . Many major Linux distributions , including Debian , Fedora Linux , Ubuntu , Red Hat Enterprise Linux , and SUSE Linux Enterprise distribute GNOME as their default desktop environment; it
178-419: A Linux distribution that had historically used GNOME 2, switched to Xfce when GNOME 3 was released, but re-adopted GNOME 3 in time for the release of Debian 8 "Jessie". Ubuntu switched from Unity to GNOME 3 with several extensions to resemble Unity, such as a persistent left application panel instead of a hidden dock and re-enabling desktop icons, with Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark in 2017. This release also saw
267-432: A clock/calendar and a notification area, which can double as a sort of dock , as well. The bottom panel is commonly empty by default (other than a set of buttons to navigate between desktops) due to its use in the navigation between windows (windows minimize to the bottom panel by default). Users can populate these panels with other completely customizable menus and buttons, including new menus, search boxes, and icons, with
356-459: A control panel in GNOME 3.x. These menus hold links to common applications and areas of the file system, respectively. A user menu placed on the opposite side of the screen, which has been available since GNOME 2.14 but has become more prominent in GNOME 3.x, holds access to account and system settings as well as options to log out, switch user, and shut down the computer. The top panel usually contains
445-424: A conventional desktop interface, featuring a simple desktop in which users could interact with virtual objects such as windows, icons, and files. GNOME 2 started out with Sawfish as its default window manager , but later switched to Metacity in GNOME 2.2. The handling of windows, applications, and files in GNOME 2 is similar to that of contemporary desktop operating systems. In the default configuration of GNOME 2,
534-548: A core part of the desktop in GNOME 1 and GNOME 2 . It has been replaced in GNOME 3 by default with GNOME Shell , which only works with the Mutter window manager. GNOME Panel served as Fallback Mode until GNOME 3.8 when Mutter could not be executed, then it was replaced with a suite of officially supported GNOME Shell extensions named GNOME Classic . Now it is part of GNOME Flashback , an official session for GNOME 3 which provides
623-402: A custom theme and ports of Ubuntu's own Indicators from their old GNOME 2.x desktop. Trisquel uses Fallback Mode (Flashback) for its main desktop, because GNOME Shell requires 3D acceleration as it relies on graphics composition, while some free software drivers do not support 3D acceleration, among other reasons like more usability and more stability. Each of the component software products in
712-420: A dot and then "alpha", "beta", or "rc" for a development release, or a decimal for a minor stable release (much like the yy mentioned previously). Free and open-source software Free and open-source software ( FOSS ) is software that is available under a license that grants the right to use, modify, and distribute the software, modified or not, to everyone free of charge. The public availability of
801-709: A large number of GTK -based programs written by various authors. Since the release of GNOME 3.0, GNOME Project concentrates on developing a set of programs that accounts for the GNOME Core Applications . The commonalities of the GNOME Core Applications are the adherence to the current GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) as well as the tight integration with underlying GNOME layers like e.g. GVfs (GNOME virtual filesystem) and also with one another e.g. GOA (gnome-online-accounts) settings and GNOME Files with Google Drive and GNOME Photos with Google Photos . Some programs are simply existing programs with
890-399: A list of all installed applications. A search bar appears at the top and a workspace list for viewing and switching between workspaces is directly above it. Notifications appear from the top of the shell. Beginning with GNOME 3.8, GNOME provides a suite of officially supported GNOME Shell extensions that provide an Applications menu (a basic start menu ) and a "Places menu" on the top bar and
979-806: A lot of cost and little value for their preferences dollar. GNOME aims to make and keep the desktop environment physically and cognitively ergonomic for people with disabilities . The GNOME Human Interface Guidelines try to take this into account as far as possible but specific issues are solved by special software. GNOME addresses computer accessibility issues by using the Accessibility Toolkit (ATK) application programming interface , which allows enhancing user experience by using special input methods and speech synthesis and speech recognition software. Particular utilities are registered with ATK using Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI), and become globally used throughout
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#17327797369471068-665: A much wider set of licenses, including proprietary software licenses. GNOME itself is licensed under the LGPL for its libraries and the GNU General Public License (GPL) for its applications. GNOME was formerly a part of the GNU Project , but that is no longer the case. In 2021, GNOME Executive Director Neil McGovern publicly tweeted that GNOME was not a GNU project and that he had been asking GNU to remove GNOME from their list of packages since 2019. In 2021, GNOME
1157-432: A new remote desktop app called Connections, updates to GNOME Music app, and improvements to the power mode settings. GNOME 42 was released on 23 March 2022 and introduced the option to screen record and switch light/dark themes using a new GTK API called Libadwaita . Several default apps were replaced with more modern versions such as Text Editor instead of Gedit and Console instead of Terminal. GNOME 43 (Guadalajara)
1246-409: A new name and revamped user interface, while others have been written from scratch. The GNOME project provides a suite of software development tools to facilitate the creation of GNOME software . These tools are designed to streamline the development process for the GNOME ecosystem . These tools collectively provide a comprehensive development environment for creating software that aligns with
1335-606: A niche role outside of the mainstream of private software development. However the success of FOSS Operating Systems such as Linux, BSD and the companies based on FOSS such as Red Hat , has changed the software industry's attitude and there has been a dramatic shift in the corporate philosophy concerning its development. Users of FOSS benefit from the Four Essential Freedoms to make unrestricted use of, and to study, copy, modify, and redistribute such software with or without modification. If they would like to change
1424-503: A panel with a windows list at the bottom of the screen that lets users quickly minimize and restore open windows, a "Show Desktop" button in the bottom left corner, and virtual desktops in the bottom right corner. GNOME Classic also adds the minimize and maximize buttons to window headers. GNOME Flashback is an official session for GNOME 3. Based on GNOME Panel and Metacity , it is lightweight, has lower hardware requirements, and uses less system resources than GNOME Shell . It provides
1513-471: A refreshed settings app, amongst many other app changes. Other system changes included accessibility improvements and experimental support for variable refresh rates. GNOME 47 (Denver) was released on 18 September 2024 and featured user-chosen accent color support in Libadwaita applications as well as many other smaller improvements. GNOME Panel was a highly configurable taskbar for GNOME. It formed
1602-581: A single unified term that could refer to both concepts, although Richard Stallman argues that it fails to be neutral unlike the similar term; "Free/Libre and Open Source Software" (FLOSS). Richard Stallman 's Free Software Definition , adopted by the FSF, defines free software as a matter of liberty, not price, and that which upholds the Four Essential Freedoms. The earliest known publication of this definition of his free software definition
1691-493: A top bar holding (from left to right) an Activities button, an application menu, a clock and an integrated system status menu. The application menu displays the name of the application in focus and provides access to functions such as accessing the application's preferences, closing the application, or creating a new application window. The status menu holds various system status indicators, shortcuts to system settings, and session actions including logging out, switching users, locking
1780-564: A traditional and highly customizable taskbar (panel) with many plug-ins bundled in one package (gnome-applets), including a customizable start menu . It provides a similar user experience to the GNOME 2.x series and has customization capacities built in. GNOME Flashback consists of the following components: GNOME Mobile is an initiative within the GNOME project to adapt the GNOME desktop environment , shell, app ecosystem and other related components for use on mobile and touch-based devices such as smartphones and tablets . There are
1869-486: A user experience similar to GNOME 2. In GNOME 3, customizing GNOME Panel is done by pressing the Alt key while right-clicking on the panel. By default, GNOME Flashback contains two panels (one on the top, and one to its opposite on the bottom) spanning the width of the screen. The top panel usually contains navigation menus labeled "Applications" and "Places" in that order, as the "System" menu from GNOME 2.x has been replaced by
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#17327797369471958-475: A variety of FOSS projects, including both free software and open-source. Dasher (software) Dasher is an input method and computer accessibility tool which enables users to compose text without using a keyboard , by entering text on a screen with a pointing device such as a mouse , touch screen , or mice operated by the foot or head. Such instruments could serve as prosthetic devices for disabled people who cannot use standard keyboards, or where
2047-409: Is a major version, which can include large changes such as ABI breakage; these have no regular schedule and occur in response to requirements for large-scale changes. xx is a minor version, released on the above schedule of approximately every 6 months, in which the 1- or 2-digit number's parity indicates the type of release: if xx is even (e.g. 3.20) the release is considered stable, whereas if xx
2136-529: Is also the default in Oracle Solaris , a Unix operating system. GNOME is developed by the GNOME Project , which is composed of both volunteers and paid contributors, the largest corporate contributor being Red Hat . It is an international project that aims to develop frameworks for software development, to program end-user applications based on these frameworks, and to coordinate efforts for
2225-403: Is odd, it represents a current development snapshot (e.g. 3.21) that will eventually evolve into the next stable release. yy indicates a point release, e.g. 3.20.6; these are made on a frequency of weeks in order to fix issues, add non-breaking enhancements, etc. GNOME 40 started a new versioning scheme in which a single number is incremented with each biannual release. The number is followed by
2314-587: Is supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and by the EU aegis-project. For whatever the writer intends to write, they select a letter from ones displayed on a screen by using a pointer, whereupon the system uses a probabilistic predictive model to anticipate the likely character combinations for the next piece of text, and accord these higher priority by displaying them more prominently than less likely letter combinations. This saves
2403-534: Is today better known as Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird . Netscape's act prompted Raymond and others to look into how to bring the FSF's Free software ideas and perceived benefits to the commercial software industry. They concluded that FSF's social activism was not appealing to companies like Netscape, and looked for a way to rebrand the Free software movement to emphasize the business potential of sharing and collaborating on software source code. The new name they chose
2492-663: Is used by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to determine whether a software license qualifies for the organization's insignia for open-source software . The definition was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines , written and adapted primarily by Bruce Perens . Perens did not base his writing on the Four Essential Freedoms of free software from the Free Software Foundation , which were only later available on
2581-584: The Nautilus file manager from 1999 to 2001. De Icaza and Nat Friedman founded Helix Code (later Ximian ) in 1999 in Massachusetts; this company developed GNOME's infrastructure and applications and was purchased by Novell in 2003. During the transition to GNOME 2 and shortly thereafter, there were brief talks about creating a GNOME Office suite. On 15 September 2003 GNOME-Office 1.0, consisting of AbiWord 2.0, GNOME-DB 1.0, and Gnumeric 1.2.0,
2670-630: The Ubuntu GNOME edition merge with the mainline release. However, Ubuntu Unity was then released, keeping the Unity desktop and continuing to update it. GNOME 40 was released on 24 March 2021. It immediately follows version 3, but adopts a new versioning scheme and a schedule of future major releases on a fixed six-month cycle (see Release Cycle ). With this quicker release cadence, major releases became somewhat leaner, because full rewrites of major packages were not occurring as often as they were in
2759-738: The United Space Alliance , which manages the computer systems for the International Space Station (ISS), regarding why they chose to switch from Windows to Linux on the ISS. In 2017, the European Commission stated that "EU institutions should become open source software users themselves, even more than they already are" and listed open source software as one of the nine key drivers of innovation, together with big data , mobility, cloud computing and
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2848-665: The hacker community at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory , announced the GNU project , saying that he had become frustrated with the effects of the change in culture of the computer industry and its users. Software development for the GNU operating system began in January 1984, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded in October 1985. An article outlining the project and its goals
2937-494: The internationalization, localization , and accessibility of that software. In 2023/2024, GNOME received over 1 million Euros from Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund . Since GNOME 2, productivity has been a key focus for GNOME. To meet this end, the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) were created. All GNOME programs share a coherent style of interfaces but are not limited to the employment of
3026-494: The internet of things . In 2020, the European Commission adopted its Open Source Strategy 2020-2023 , including encouraging sharing and reuse of software and publishing Commission's source code as key objectives. Among concrete actions there is also to set up an Open Source Programme Office in 2020 and in 2022 it launched its own FOSS repository https://code.europa.eu/ . In 2021, the Commission Decision on
3115-609: The open-source software movement are online social movements behind widespread production, adoption and promotion of FOSS, with the former preferring to use the terms FLOSS , free or libre. "Free and open-source software" (FOSS) is an umbrella term for software that is simultaneously considered both free software and open-source software . The precise definition of the terms "free software" and "open-source software" applies them to any software distributed under terms that allow users to use, modify, and redistribute said software in any manner they see fit, without requiring that they pay
3204-638: The EU. These recommendations are to be taken into account later in the same year in Commission's proposal of the "Interoperable Europe Act" . While copyright is the primary legal mechanism that FOSS authors use to ensure license compliance for their software, other mechanisms such as legislation, patents, and trademarks have implications as well. In response to legal issues with patents and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA),
3293-706: The FOSS ecosystem, several projects decided against upgrading to GPLv3. For instance the Linux kernel , the BusyBox project, AdvFS , Blender , and the VLC media player decided against adopting the GPLv3. Apple , a user of GCC and a heavy user of both DRM and patents, switched the compiler in its Xcode IDE from GCC to Clang , which is another FOSS compiler but is under a permissive license . LWN speculated that Apple
3382-653: The Free Software Foundation released version 3 of its GNU General Public License (GNU GPLv3) in 2007 that explicitly addressed the DMCA and patent rights. After the development of the GNU GPLv3 in 2007, the FSF (as the copyright holder of many pieces of the GNU system) updated many of the GNU programs' licenses from GPLv2 to GPLv3. On the other hand, the adoption of the new GPL version was heavily discussed in
3471-419: The GNOME 2 rewrite, many settings deemed of little value to the majority of users were removed. The guiding principle was outlined by Havoc Pennington – a software developer involved in the project – who emphasized the idea that it is better to make software behave correctly by default than to add a UI preference to get the desired behavior: A traditional free software application is configurable so that it has
3560-423: The GNOME desktop and its design principles . GNOME Circle is a collection of applications which have been built to extend the GNOME platform, utilize GNOME technologies, and follow the GNOME human interface guidelines . GNOME was started on 15 August 1997 by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena [ es ] as a free software project to develop a desktop environment and applications for it. It
3649-409: The GNOME project has its own version number and release schedule . However, individual module maintainers coordinate their efforts to create a full GNOME stable release on an approximately six-month schedule, alongside its underlying libraries such as GTK and GLib. Some experimental projects are excluded from these releases. Before GNOME 40, GNOME version numbers followed the scheme v.xx.yy . Here, v
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3738-425: The GNOME.Asia community, GNOME 44 introduced a new file chooser grid view, updated settings panels, and redesigned accessibility settings. The new quick settings menu introduced in GNOME 43 was updated, alongside the addition of several new apps and improvements to existing apps. GNOME 45 (Rīga) was released on 20 September 2023. It introduced redesigned app styles alongside a new activities button, which replaced both
3827-402: The actual causes of the many issues with Linux on notebooks such as the unnecessary power consumption. Mergers have affected major open-source software. Sun Microsystems (Sun) acquired MySQL AB , owner of the popular open-source MySQL database, in 2008. Oracle in turn purchased Sun in January 2010, acquiring their copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Thus, Oracle became the owner of both
3916-470: The author(s) of the software a royalty or fee for engaging in the listed activities. Although there is an almost complete overlap between free-software licenses and open-source-software licenses, there is a strong philosophical disagreement between the advocates of these two positions. The terminology of FOSS was created to be a neutral on these philosophical disagreements between the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Open Source Initiative (OSI) and have
4005-543: The close button and application name in the window decoration . GNOME 3 brought many enhancements to core software. Many GNOME Core Applications also went through redesigns to provide a better user experience. Mutter replaced Metacity as the default window manager, and Adwaita replaced Clearlooks as the default theme. The release of GNOME 3 caused considerable controversy in the GNU and Linux communities. Aiming to provide an easy-to-use and uncluttered user experience has led to some criticized design decisions, like
4094-434: The concept of freely distributed software and universal access to an application's source code . A Microsoft executive publicly stated in 2001 that "Open-source is an intellectual property destroyer. I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business." Companies have indeed faced copyright infringement issues when embracing FOSS. For many years FOSS played
4183-502: The copyright law was extended to computer programs in the United States —previously, computer programs could be considered ideas, procedures, methods, systems, and processes, which are not copyrightable. Early on, closed-source software was uncommon until the mid-1970s to the 1980s, when IBM implemented in 1983 an "object code only" policy, no longer distributing source code. In 1983, Richard Stallman , longtime member of
4272-554: The creation of the GNOME Shell . GNOME 3 was released in 2011. While GNOME 1 and 2 interfaces followed the traditional desktop metaphor , the GNOME Shell adopted a more abstract metaphor with a minimalistic window management workflow, where switching between different tasks and virtual desktops occurs in a separate area called the overview. The Minimize and maximize buttons were hidden by default, leaving only
4361-451: The desktop has a launcher menu for quick access to installed programs and file locations; open windows may be accessed by a taskbar along the bottom of the screen; and the top-right corner features a notification area for programs to display notices while running in the background. However, these features can be moved to almost any position or orientation the user desires, replaced with other functions, or removed altogether. As of 2009, GNOME 2
4450-410: The desktop. Several assistive technology providers, including Orca screen reader and Dasher input method, were developed specifically for use with GNOME. The internationalization and localization of GNOME software relies on locale , and supports 197 languages with varying levels of completion, with some not being translated at all. GNOME Shell is the main graphical shell of GNOME. It features
4539-639: The early releases of GNOME 3 is Linus Torvalds , the creator of the Linux kernel . Torvalds abandoned GNOME for a while after the release of GNOME 3.0, saying, "The developers have apparently decided that it's 'too complicated' to actually do real work on your desktop, and have decided to make it really annoying to do". He promptly switched to Xfce . Over time, critical reception has grown more positive. In 2013, Torvalds resumed using GNOME, noting that "they have extensions now that are still much too hard to find; but with extensions you can make your desktop look almost as good as it used to look two years ago". Debian ,
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#17327797369474628-562: The functionality of software they can bring about changes to the code and, if they wish, distribute such modified versions of the software or often − depending on the software's decision making model and its other users − even push or request such changes to be made via updates to the original software. Manufacturers of proprietary, closed-source software are sometimes pressured to building in backdoors or other covert, undesired features into their software. Instead of having to trust software vendors, users of FOSS can inspect and verify
4717-416: The goal of developing the most efficient software for its users or use-cases while proprietary software is typically meant to generate profits . Furthermore, in many cases more organizations and individuals contribute to such projects than to proprietary software. It has been shown that technical superiority is typically the primary reason why companies choose open source software. According to Linus's law
4806-567: The government charged that bundled software was anticompetitive. While some software was still being provided without monetary cost and license restriction, there was a growing amount of software that was only at a monetary cost with restricted licensing. In the 1970s and early 1980s, some parts of the software industry began using technical measures (such as distributing only binary copies of computer programs ) to prevent computer users from being able to use reverse engineering techniques to study and customize software they had paid for. In 1980,
4895-491: The historical potential of an " economy of abundance " for the new digital world , FOSS may lay down a plan for political resistance or show the way towards a potential transformation of capitalism . According to Yochai Benkler , Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School , free software is the most visible part of a new economy of commons-based peer production of information, knowledge, and culture. As examples, he cites
4984-488: The icons in particular (called launchers ) performing functions similar to the quick-launch feature found in the Microsoft Windows 98 – Vista taskbar. Other applications can also be attached to the panels, and the panels are highly reconfigurable: anything on these panels can be moved, removed, or configured in other ways. For example, a migrating Microsoft Windows user might move the menus usually positioned in
5073-427: The jumps between GNOME 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 versions. GNOME 40 organizes the activities overview in a horizontal fashion, instead of using a vertical design like its predecessors. The release also brings new touchpad gestures. GNOME 41 was released on 22 September 2021 and introduced a rewritten and redesigned GNOME Software application manager, a multitasking panel and a mobile network (for WWAN ) panel in settings,
5162-485: The level of interest in a particular project. However, unlike close-sourced software, improvements can be made by anyone who has the motivation, time and skill to do so. A common obstacle in FOSS development is the lack of access to some common official standards, due to costly royalties or required non-disclosure agreements (e.g., for the DVD-Video format). There is often less certainty of FOSS projects gaining
5251-545: The more people who can see and test a set of code, the more likely any flaws will be caught and fixed quickly. However, this does not guarantee a high level of participation. Having a grouping of full-time professionals behind a commercial product can in some cases be superior to FOSS. Furthermore, publicized source code might make it easier for hackers to find vulnerabilities in it and write exploits. This however assumes that such malicious hackers are more effective than white hat hackers which responsibly disclose or help fix
5340-477: The most popular proprietary database and the most popular open-source database. Oracle's attempts to commercialize the open-source MySQL database have raised concerns in the FOSS community. Partly in response to uncertainty about the future of MySQL, the FOSS community forked the project into new database systems outside of Oracle's control. These include MariaDB , Percona , and Drizzle . All of these have distinct names; they are distinct projects and cannot use
5429-640: The open source licensing and reuse of Commission software (2021/C 495 I/01) was adopted, under which, as a general principle, the European Commission may release software under EUPL or another FOSS license, if more appropriate. There are exceptions though. In May 2022, the Expert group on the Interoperability of European Public Services came published 27 recommendations to strengthen the interoperability of public administrations across
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#17327797369475518-544: The parties stipulated that Google would pay no damages. Oracle appealed to the Federal Circuit , and Google filed a cross-appeal on the literal copying claim. By defying ownership regulations in the construction and use of information—a key area of contemporary growth —the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) movement counters neoliberalism and privatization in general. By realizing
5607-520: The previous "Activities" label and the app menu with a graphical workspace indicator. Other updates to the system bar included a new camera usage indicator and a keyboard shortcut to open and close the quick settings menu. GNOME 45 also introduced two new image viewer and camera apps, keyboard backlight controls, and numerous enhancements to existing apps. GNOME 46 (Kathmandu) was released on 20 March 2024 and featured an enhanced files app with global search, support for headless remote login via GDM , and
5696-433: The removal of minimize and maximize buttons, the simplification of configuration options, and visual clues that could lead to confusion. Several projects have been initiated to either continue development of GNOME 2.x, modify GNOME 3.x to be more like the 2.x releases, or create a desktop environment with a traditional design metaphor entirely from scratch due to the negative reception of GNOME 3: Among those critical of
5785-418: The required resources and participation for continued development than commercial software backed by companies. However, companies also often abolish projects for being unprofitable, yet large companies may rely on, and hence co-develop, open source software. On the other hand, if the vendor of proprietary software ceases development, there are no alternatives; whereas with FOSS, any user who needs it still has
5874-484: The right, and the source-code, to continue to develop it themself, or pay a 3rd party to do so. As the FOSS operating system distributions of Linux has a lower market share of end users there are also fewer applications available. "We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable -- one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust, or adapt, we could." Official statement of
5963-431: The same GUI widgets . Rather, the design of the GNOME's interface is guided by concepts described in the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines , itself relying on insights from cognitive ergonomics . Following the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines , developers can create high-quality, consistent, and usable GUI programs, as it addresses everything from interface design to the recommended pixel-based layout of widgets. During
6052-617: The screen, and suspending the computer. Clicking on the Activities button, moving the mouse to the top-left hot corner or pressing the Super key brings up the Overview. The Overview gives users an overview of current activities and provides a way to switch between windows and workspaces and to launch applications. The Dash on the bottom houses shortcuts to favorite applications, currently open windows, and an application picker button to show
6141-971: The source code is, therefore, a necessary but not sufficient condition. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term for free software and open-source software . FOSS is in contrast to proprietary software , where the software is under restrictive copyright or licensing and the source code is hidden from the users. FOSS maintains the software user's civil liberty rights via the " Four Essential Freedoms " of free software. Other benefits of using FOSS include decreased software costs, increased security against malware , stability, privacy , opportunities for educational usage, and giving users more control over their own hardware. Free and open-source operating systems such as Linux distributions and descendants of BSD are widely used today, powering millions of servers , desktops , smartphones , and other devices. Free-software licenses and open-source licenses are used by many software packages today. The free software movement and
6230-521: The source code themselves and can put trust on a community of volunteers and users. As proprietary code is typically hidden from public view, only the vendors themselves and hackers may be aware of any vulnerabilities in them while FOSS involves as many people as possible for exposing bugs quickly. FOSS is often free of charge although donations are often encouraged. This also allows users to better test and compare software. FOSS allows for better collaboration among various parties and individuals with
6319-456: The top panel into a 'start' menu on the bottom panel as well as moving the notification area into the place normally positioned by the Windows notification area, then remove the top panel altogether, to interact with GNOME Panel similarly to the Windows taskbar. The version of GNOME Panel available in the repository for Ubuntu 12.04 offers a modified version of Fallback Mode with the addition of
6408-518: The trademarked name MySQL. In August 2010, Oracle sued Google , claiming that its use of Java in Android infringed on Oracle's copyrights and patents. In May 2012, the trial judge determined that Google did not infringe on Oracle's patents and ruled that the structure of the Java APIs used by Google was not copyrightable. The jury found that Google infringed a small number of copied files, but
6497-458: The union of all features anyone's ever seen in any equivalent application on any other historical platform. Or even configurable to be the union of all applications that anyone's ever seen on any historical platform ( Emacs *cough*). Does this hurt anything? Yes it does. It turns out that preferences have a cost. [..] [E]ach one has a price, and you have to carefully consider its value. Many users and developers don't understand this, and end up with
6586-491: The use of one is impractical. Dasher is free and open-source software , subject to the requirements of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2. Dasher is available for operating systems with GTK+ support, i.e. Linux , BSDs and other Unix-like including macOS , Microsoft Windows , Pocket PC , iOS and Android . Dasher was invented by David J. C. MacKay and developed by David Ward and other members of MacKay's Cambridge research group. The Dasher project
6675-837: The vulnerabilities, that no code leaks or exfiltrations occur and that reverse engineering of proprietary code is a hindrance of significance for malicious hackers. Sometimes, FOSS is not compatible with proprietary hardware or specific software. This is often due to manufacturers obstructing FOSS such as by not disclosing the interfaces or other specifications needed for members of the FOSS movement to write drivers for their hardware - for instance as they wish customers to run only their own proprietary software or as they might benefit from partnerships. While FOSS can be superior to proprietary equivalents in terms of software features and stability, in many cases it has more unfixed bugs and missing features when compared to similar commercial software. This varies per case, and usually depends on
6764-485: The web. Perens subsequently stated that he felt Eric Raymond 's promotion of open-source unfairly overshadowed the Free Software Foundation's efforts and reaffirmed his support for free software. In the following 2000s, he spoke about open source again. From the 1950s and on through the 1980s, it was common for computer users to have the source code for all programs they used, and the permission and ability to modify it for their own use. Software , including source code,
6853-590: Was "Open-source", and quickly Bruce Perens , publisher Tim O'Reilly , Linus Torvalds, and others signed on to the rebranding. The Open Source Initiative was founded in February 1998 to encourage the use of the new term and evangelize open-source principles. While the Open Source Initiative sought to encourage the use of the new term and evangelize the principles it adhered to, commercial software vendors found themselves increasingly threatened by
6942-447: Was commonly shared by individuals who used computers, often as public-domain software (FOSS is not the same as public domain software, as public domain software does not contain copyrights ). Most companies had a business model based on hardware sales, and provided or bundled software with hardware, free of charge. By the late 1960s, the prevailing business model around software was changing. A growing and evolving software industry
7031-462: Was competing with the hardware manufacturer's bundled software products; rather than funding software development from hardware revenue, these new companies were selling software directly. Leased machines required software support while providing no revenue for software, and some customers who were able to better meet their own needs did not want the costs of software bundled with hardware product costs. In United States vs. IBM , filed January 17, 1969,
7120-557: Was founded in part because the K Desktop Environment , which was growing in popularity, relied on the Qt widget toolkit which used a proprietary software license until version 2.0 (June 1999). In place of Qt, GTK (formerly called GIMP Toolkit) was chosen as the base of GNOME. GTK is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), a free software license that allows software linking to it to use
7209-475: Was in the February 1986 edition of the FSF's now-discontinued GNU's Bulletin publication. The canonical source for the document is in the philosophy section of the GNU Project website. As of August 2017 , it is published in 40 languages. To meet the definition of "free software", the FSF requires the software's licensing respect the civil liberties / human rights of what the FSF calls the software user's " Four Essential Freedoms ". The Open Source Definition
7298-572: Was motivated partly by a desire to avoid GPLv3. The Samba project also switched to GPLv3, so Apple replaced Samba in their software suite by a closed-source, proprietary software alternative. Leemhuis criticizes the prioritization of skilled developers who − instead of fixing issues in already popular open-source applications and desktop environments − create new, mostly redundant software to gain fame and fortune. He also criticizes notebook manufacturers for optimizing their own products only privately or creating workarounds instead of helping fix
7387-528: Was published in March 1985 titled the GNU Manifesto . The manifesto included significant explanation of the GNU philosophy, Free Software Definition and " copyleft " ideas. The FSF takes the position that the fundamental issue Free software addresses is an ethical one—to ensure software users can exercise what it calls " The Four Essential Freedoms ". The Linux kernel , created by Linus Torvalds ,
7476-578: Was released as freely modifiable source code in 1991. Initially, Linux was not released under either a Free software or an Open-source software license. However, with version 0.12 in February 1992, he relicensed the project under the GNU General Public License . FreeBSD and NetBSD (both derived from 386BSD ) were released as Free software when the USL v. BSDi lawsuit was settled out of court in 1993. OpenBSD forked from NetBSD in 1995. Also in 1995, The Apache HTTP Server , commonly referred to as Apache,
7565-414: Was released on 21 September 2022 and introduced a new quick settings menu, a GNOME Files update to GTK4 , and a new 'Device Security' panel in settings, among many other changes. GNOME Web was updated, bringing in support for web apps and experimental Firefox and Chrome extension support. GNOME 44 (Kuala Lumpur) was released on 22 March 2023. Named after Kuala Lumpur in recognition of work done by
7654-527: Was released under the Apache License 1.0 . In 1997, Eric Raymond published The Cathedral and the Bazaar , a reflective analysis of the hacker community and Free software principles. The paper received significant attention in early 1998, and was one factor in motivating Netscape Communications Corporation to release their popular Netscape Communicator Internet suite as Free software . This code
7743-453: Was released. Although some release planning for GNOME Office 1.2 was happening on the gnome-office mailing list, and Gnumeric 1.4 was announced as a part of it, the 1.2 release of the suite itself never materialized. As of 4 May 2014, the GNOME wiki only mentions "GNOME/GTK applications that are useful in an office environment". GNOME 2 was released in June 2002 and was very similar to
7832-460: Was removed from the list. GNOME proceeded to remove mentions of any link to GNU from their code and documentation. The name "GNOME" was initially an acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment , referring to the original intention of creating a distributed object framework similar to Microsoft 's OLE , but the acronym was eventually dropped because it no longer reflected the vision of the GNOME project. The California startup Eazel developed
7921-426: Was the default desktop for OpenSolaris . The MATE desktop environment is a fork of the GNOME 2 codebase (see Criticism , below.) In 2008, an increasing discontent among the community and developers about the lack of project direction and technical progress prompted the announcement of GNOME 3.0. Originally, the plan was to make only incremental changes and avoid disruption for users. This changed when efforts led to
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