GNOME begins to play catch up with KDE

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 07 April 2009 06:39

Opinion and Analysis

The GNOME project has released what it calls a roadmap towards version 3.0. After following a policy that mandated minor changes in its six-monthly releases, GNOME has decided that it would be a mistake to release 3.0 without a "user-visible change."
In short, the project is looking to change the user experience, streamline the platform and promote these efforts so that the community will be able to stomach what emerges without too much complaint.

The roadmap is here and you can read the details for yourself; I will limit myself to a few comments.

Last January, when the spanking new, spiffy KDE 4.0 was released, there was considerable criticism of the effort, much of it misplaced.

The KDE project has, in its 13-year history, occasionally taken a big step forward to change the desktop experience and make it better. On occasion, this has caused complaint, both among ordinary and technical users.

A .0 release is always something of a minefield and once the point releases started to emerge, things got better and better.

And as this happened, there was a marked change in the tone of those who had criticised the KDE effort. A tone of admiration began to emerge.

KDE was looking like something belonging to the 21st century. GNOME was beginning to look dowdy, something like last year's fashion statement.