CeBIT Open Source Project Lounge -- GNOME

In a nutshell: How would you describe your project in one or two sentences?

GNOME is a free desktop environment of Linux and Linux-like systems that is especially focused on offering easy access. GNOME also provides a software development platform to create applications that seamlessly integrate into a desktop environment.

When did the project begin and how did it come into being?

The project was founded 1996 as a "result of various attempts from a group of friends that wanted to improve free software." Also see the website: http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/gnome-history.html.

How many active members does the project have?

Countless, about a thousand developers and an unknown number of translators, artists, etc.

Why should a CeBIT visitor come to your booth?

The CeBIT visitor will get a presentation of the current GNOME version as well as an opportunity to give feedback to GNOME developers and ask them questions.

Who do you make your software for?

Everyone, even companies.

Where do you see your biggest current challenge?

The biggest problems are in the discrepancies between companies, for which the GNOME/GTK+ toolkit has certified lasting API and ABI stability, and the community, which wants to abandon API and ABI compatibility for GTK+ 3.0 in favor of better code quality.

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

We currently have salaried developers that are working on diverse projects such as event redirection for off-screen windows, freeing GTK+ from subwindows, etc.

Under which license is the software currently offered?

LGPL/GPL.

Project Website: www.gnome.org.