15 Year Anniversary of the GNOME Project

It’s exciting that we’ve reached this milestone. Fifteen years ago, GNOME was created under the umbrella of the GNU project by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena Quintero, then two students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The first five years, GNOME was a young project with very young members between the ages of 14 and 22. writing code with passion and a vision to create a free desktop for GNU/LInux enthusiasts. A desktop by hackers for hackers.

At our ten year mark we had grown, our code base had grown and we had as a community matured. We realized that our current model of development was unsustainable, and we wanted to be more than just a desktop for hackers, we wanted to write a desktop for everyone regardless of ability. Great changes took place. Our culture changed as we moved to a six month release model, the exuberant wish to code in features were replaced with thoughtful reflection on making a desktop that “just worked.” Initially we were on a rocky road. There were many who were disappointed in the direction we had taken. Some of them did not continue the journey with us, others persevered and newcomers enthusiastically joined us. We lost old friends and gained new ones. During this time our community grew, the popularity of our desktop grew, and we had achieved the reputation of having a successful user experience. We were the default desktop for many of the most popular distributions.

As we approached our ten year mark, the world had changed around us. Hardware changed. For many, tablets and smart phones became the primary computing device for reading books, watching videos, and for social networking. Our desktop was modeled after an older computing paradigm. It was time to change the game. To chart a path independent from the other desktops and create a new model that was flexible to adapt to any hardware platform, mobile and desktop. To build upon our successes that we have already achieved with assistive technologies and “just works” design. So after nine years, a new release of GNOME was released. The new release featured a brand new look, integrated focused special effects, and a new mentality of staying out of your way - a distraction free desktop to help manage the many distractions in our Internet integrated life.

GNOME 2.0 was a radical departure from GNOME 1.0 in code development. The breakages of ABI/API became a thing of the past. A new six month release model that continues to this day provides steady releases. An achievement that is unusual not only in free software but in commercial software shops as well. For GNOME 3, while we continued to build on those successes, we changed the game again by being the first Free Software project to take a design focused approach to the traditional free software model. GNOME 3 focuses on the user experience, by creating a new suite of GNOME 3 applications collaboratively designed by package maintainers and UX designers.

In the years ahead, the GNOME Project will continue to focus on creating a better user experience. We know that the desktop experience isn’t entirely contained at the user space level but at the kernel and distribution level too. To creating a user experience from power up to shutdown. We’ll be partnering with distributions, kernel developers, and users to create the finest experience out there. We are also changing our culture, by expanding our outreach programs. Community involvement will be stepped up, with an increased presence on social networking sites. We’re focused on better volunteer management, to increase number of volunteers to our project so that we will continue to have a new generation of contributors. We’ll expand the Women’s Outreach program and increase not only the number of women in our project, but gender diversification in Free Software overall.

The first 15 years of GNOME was a period of fun, experimentation, and maturation. We expect the next 15 years to be even better!

A Happy 15 Years, GNOME!

Engagement/AnnualReport/AnnualReport2012/Birthday (last edited 2013-08-10 12:09:56 by AllanDay)