5 September 2003

Michael Meeks (michael@ximian.com)

GNOME:	technology and	direction

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls...” - Jeremiah 6:16

Overview

Gnome & the wider picture

New things in Gnome 2.4

Totem – media player

Epiphany – slicker browser

improved accessibility

OpenOffice.org [ home-grown build ]

now and next

Interesting future directions

Gnome & the wider picture

Free Software (not 'Open')

'Free software on every desktop'

Libraries free for commercial use

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

Business friendly

API/ABI compatibility anon.

meeting government a11y requirements

multi-OS: GNU/Linux, Solaris, HP/UX, AIX

Gnome – where it fits

The (stable) foundation of a bigger whole

Infrastructure

accessibility (a11y) foundation

widget / application (gtk+/libgnome*)

Virtual filing system

Applications

Nautilus / panel – core desktop

Evolution – contact/calendar/E-mail

and more ...

Gnome - Usability
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup

simplicity over configurability: good defaults

intuitive interfaces – not thoughtless cloning

Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)

Consistancy across the desktop

Non-compliance ~a bug

Globally adopted

Professional usability testing:

Sun, Ximian, Siemens

New in Gnome 2.4 ...

Panel improvements

major re-write of internals

cleaner, more consistent, more usable

improved keynav / Xinerama support

new applets eg. 'sticky notes'

supports XRandR – resolution switching extn.

Internationalisation (i18n)

Lots of improvements in Gnome 2.4

new: Arabic, Hebrew, Nepalese, Gaelic

Eye Of Gnome (EOG)

A magically pluggable Bonobo view, for use with Nautilus

Slide Show

Nicer UI.

Ximian

(GUADEC 2000)

gDesklets

Implemented in Python

XML based / extensible design

http://www.pycage.de/software_gdesklets.html

pretty

Nautilus – file manager

zip/file-roller integration

multi-rooted tree

D&D CD burning

burn://

.hidden files

startup notify

~/Desktop

Epiphany – web browser

Re-uses the standard gecko (mozilla) core

Highly HIG compliant

Uses Gnome for plugins etc.

stress on user interface simplicity

Totem – multimedia player

Based on gstreamer (/xine)

webcam bits

video thumbnails

software patent victim: hard for distributors.

Evolution 1.4 & before

Evolution

mail / calendar / addressbook

Gnome 2.0 based

Connectors

Exchange 2k

group Calendaring / scheduling

Sun One

Full capabilities

SuSE OpenExchange – in development

Evolution – in development

System addressbook / contacts / calendar

integration with the platform / ABI stability

wider usage

Re-designed UI / ergonomics

S/MIME

Builtin spam filtering

Novell GroupWise connector – prototype in CVS

http://codeblogs.ximian.com/blogs/evolution/

Wireless / tablet / Gnome (XD2)

Improved thin client performance

Dashboard ...

A context sensitive association engine – ( prototype )

Accessibility ...

Effort driven by Sun (& Baum / U. Toronto)

Government compliance – Section 508 (US)

“Gesetz zur Gleichstellung behinderter Menschen” im Deutschland

Winner, 2002 Helen Keller Achievement Award (American Foundation for Blind)

Stack:

atk / gail– abstract a11y toolkit + impl.

at-spi / Java bridge – CORBA a11y bus

Applications: Desktop, OO.o, Evolution, Moz.

Accessibility: - the Demo

helping to shrink our potential user-base:

new typing break capplet:

OpenOffice.org – it rocks.

6+ million lines of Free software

Very few external hackers – get involved

http://ooo.ximian.com/ or ooo-build

Lots of easy fixes / tweaks for beginners

The only viable Office for serious use

Interoperability

Depth of features

Ximian – put the icing onto this schönen Kuchen

Gnome integration changes:

build-ooo

Make OO.o buildable for everyone – so people can hack on it easily.

Look & feel – GUI / fluff – 30%

preserving training investment

pretty splash / misc. artwork

Industrial icon theme ~500 icons

32 bitmap alpha transparency

gtk+ theme integration

myriad ergonomic / gui improvements

mouse cursor, menu bloat,

insert symbol, delete key,

menu popdown, toolbar defaults,

no 1st time pain, startup + ...

metric fonts, rendering hints

integrated Ximian help

Hard-core - integration & more – 45%

Evolution integration

CUPS - standard IPP network printing

Gnome VFS - NFS / SMB shares

Fontconfig - standard, fast, system-wide font-caching

cut / paste improvements

agree on the dpi, share UI font settings

well configured out of the box

~/.recent-files integration

MS the default format

LGPL, libart based gpc re-write

And more ...

Red-Carpet snaps for RH9 / SuSE 8.2

OO.o 1.1 – lots of great new features eg. startup speed, interoperability etc.

Conclusions:

Gnome is

Free software

Multi-vendor & ISV friendly

Interoperable & Novell integrated.

OpenOffice.org: sign the JCA today ...

this talk: http://www.gnome.org/~michael

Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock for ever! I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And though this body has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God, I myself will see him, with my own eyes - I and not another. How my heart yearns within me. - Job 19: 23-27

2003-09-04T16:35:52