GNOME

GNOME
	GNOME Shell with GNOME Web, Weather and Files (version 48, released in March 2025)
Original author(s)	Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena
Developer(s)	The GNOME Project
Initial release	3 March 1999; 27 years ago
Stable release	51 / 16 September 2026
Repository	gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME ;
Written in	C, XML, C++, C#, HTML, Vala, Python, JavaScript, CSS, and more
Operating system	BSD, Linux, Unix
Platform	Wayland and X11
Available in	38 languages
Type	Desktop environment
License	GPL-2.0-or-later
Website	www.gnome.org

GNOME is a computer desktop environment. It was designed for Linux, but many other operating systems can use it too. GNOME aims to provide an easy way to use a computer. GNOME is a free software project. It was made because at the time, people were questioning whether KDE was free software. GNOME is part of the GNU project.

Aims

According to the GNOME website:

The GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop for users, and the GNOME development platform, an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into the rest of the desktop.

The GNOME project puts heavy emphasis on simplicity, usability, and making things “just work” (see KISS principle). The other aims of the project are:

Freedom—to create a desktop environment with readily-available source code for re-use under a free software license.
Accessibility—to ensure the desktop can be used by anyone, regardless of technical skill or physical circumstances.
Internationalization and localization—to make the desktop available in many languages. At the moment, GNOME is being translated to 161 languages.
Developer-friendliness—to ensure ease of writing software that integrates smoothly with the desktop, and allow developers a free choice of programming language.
Organization—to adhere to a regular release cycle and maintain a disciplined community structure.
Support—to ensure backing from other institutions beyond the GNOME community.