Enlightenment

Short and sweet: How would you describe your project in one or two sentences?

Enlightenment produces some of the fastest and leanest software around for the kind of output it handles, especially with graphics. It primarily is known for its Windowmanager, but as such the vast majority of the nuts and bolts behind it are its libraries, known as EFL, that support many advanced features and rendering systems and range in use from Embedded (Mobile phones) all the way up to high end workstations.

When did the project begin?

Since 1997.

How many active members does the project have?

About 10 to 15

Why was the project created?

It started by simply trying to make X less ugly - back when the Linux/Unix X11desktop was dominated by FVWM, TWM and "gray beveled boxes". Much less powerfulsystems (like the Amiga) were perfectly able to have beautiful environments,and X on Unix was plain and ugly. This is before GNOME ever existed and KDE wasjust in its infancy. Since then Enlightenment has evolved with over 1 millionlines of code in SVN across multiple libraries and apps.

Why should a CeBIT visitor come to your booth?

To see in person how well Enlightenment and the Libraries can work and how goodthey can look if used properly. Especially at the moment EFL will interest people who make Gadgets and use Linux. In addition people can ask thedevelopers direct questions.

Who do you make your software for?

For the end user who likes to have things both beautiful AND have it the waythey like. So choice is important. We also write our libraries for developers who want to make beautiful interfaces easily and get the maximum performance onanything, from low-end ARM based phones, through to Smartphones, Tablets,Netbooks, PC's and Workstations.

Where do you see your biggest current challenges?

Too much work, too much complicated stuff, not enough people and time, and notenough showcase platforms to let people know just how good EFL really iscompared to its competition.

If you could hire a full-time project developer now, what problem should he or she be ready to solve?

We have so many nuts to crack. That's the biggest problem. Our libraries aresome of the best out there at what they do. They run rings around most competition—even the expensive closed source stuff. I don't think I could limit it to 1 Nut, so I'll make a very short list.

1) Complete the Windowmanager (e17) and move onto e18, 2) Better development tools for thelibraries (better Edje editing features in Editje, and a full GUI designer forElementary), and 3) Expand Edje features with more comprehensive LUA support Audio, Video and more.

The problem is all of these are, in and of themselves,entire projects and are far from "1 person does some work for a few months".They would take dozens of man-months in total. If i had to pick ONLY 1, I'd saythe GUI designer, as that will speed up development in the future.

Under which license is the software currently offered?

GPL, LGPL and BSD

Internet adress:

http://www.enlightenment.org