Whereas most desktop environments (DEs) evolve progressively, GNOME prefers dramatic revolutions. I examined all the main GNOME releases over the past weekend, and it was a journey by means of radical redesigns and shifting concepts about computing paradigms. This is the way it developed over the past 27 years.
GNOME 1 (1999-2002): A really free and open-source (FOSS) desktop atmosphere
Within the late Nineteen Nineties, private computing was the following large factor. Microsoft had Home windows, Apple had macOS, and Linux entered the sport because the free and open-source (FOSS) different. Nonetheless, Linux is just a kernel—not an entire working system. To show Linux right into a useful private laptop, you want a desktop atmosphere on prime of it to supply a graphical person interface.
On the time, KDE was the main selection for Linux customers. However there was an issue—KDE was constructed on the Qt toolkit, which used a licensing mannequin that wasn’t suitable with free software program ideas. This created an uncomfortable scenario for a Linux neighborhood that valued freedom above all else.
Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena noticed this as a possibility and, in 1997, started growth on the GNOME desktop atmosphere. It was constructed totally on GTK, a toolkit licensed below the LGPL (Lesser General Public License), making GNOME really free and open supply. Crimson Hat threw its weight behind the venture, offering essential early backing that gave GNOME on the spot credibility when it launched in March 1999.
By way of design, GNOME 1 performed it secure. If you happen to positioned a screenshot of GNOME 1 subsequent to Home windows 95, they’d look practically similar—each featured a single taskbar on the backside, a Begin-menu equal with GNOME’s distinctive “foot” icon, and a desktop that housed icons and software home windows—the traditional Windows-Icons-Menus-Pointer (WIMP) paradigm. The primary distinction was that GNOME’s panel felt busier, filled with customizable applets and drawers, giving it a extra cluttered look in comparison with Home windows’ cleaner taskbar.
GNOME 1 didn’t innovate on workflow—it caught to what folks already knew, and the technique labored. By providing a really free and open-source different at precisely the fitting second, GNOME gained large adoption. Qt finally went GPL (Common Public License) in 2000, however by then, GNOME had already constructed momentum—and Linux customers benefited from having two robust desktop environments driving wholesome competitors.
GNOME 2 (2002-2011): The 2-panel design that outlined the Linux desktop
GNOME 2 launched in June 2002 and represented a radical refinement of every little thing GNOME 1 had established. This wasn’t simply an incremental replace—it was an evolution of the desktop paradigm, centered on usability, standardization, and making a desktop atmosphere that felt polished and mature. For the primary time, GNOME printed official Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), signaling a severe dedication to considerate design moderately than merely copying what labored elsewhere.
Essentially the most seen change was the two-panel format. GNOME 2 broke away from the single-taskbar strategy that dominated most desktops on the time, splitting performance throughout two panels. The highest panel housed the Functions and Locations menus, the system tray, and the clock—basically “issues you are able to do.” The underside panel displayed your window listing, workspace switcher, and Present Desktop button—“issues you might be doing.” This created an intuitive visible hierarchy that felt recent and distinct. If you happen to positioned GNOME 2 subsequent to a Home windows PC or Mac of that period, you’d instantly acknowledge it as its personal factor.
GNOME 2 additionally matured its software ecosystem, transport with in-house apps particularly designed for the GNOME desktop. You had:
- Nautilus because the default file supervisor
- Cheese because the digital camera app
- Epiphany as the online browser
- Totem because the media participant
- Evolution as the e-mail shopper
- Gedit for textual content modifying
- Evince for doc viewing
These apps adopted the identical design ideas because the desktop atmosphere, which made every little thing really feel cohesive and properly built-in. GNOME 2 provided an entire desktop expertise moderately than a free assortment of unrelated apps.
The desktop atmosphere was already doing properly when it comes to adoption, however its recognition skyrocketed in October 2004 when Ubuntu 4.10 “Warty Warthog” shipped with GNOME 2 as its default desktop. Ubuntu explicitly focused mainstream Linux adoption, and GNOME 2’s approachable design made it an ideal match. As Ubuntu’s recognition exploded and its title grew to become synonymous with Linux, GNOME 2 more and more got here to characterize “the Linux desktop.”
Ubuntu 4.10 was the primary model of Ubuntu—there was no “Ubuntu 1.” Ubuntu follows a yr.month versioning scheme, the place 4.10 refers to October 2004, simply as 25.10 refers to October 2025.
Nearly each main distro adopted GNOME 2, from Crimson Hat and Fedora to Debian and past. On the time, in case you had been utilizing desktop Linux, you had been more than likely utilizing GNOME 2. Working from 2002 to 2011, it grew to become the longest-lived era of GNOME and continues to affect desktop design at this time by means of forks like MATE and Cinnamon.
GNOME 3 (2011-2020): A paradigm shift that no one requested for
GNOME 3 launched in April 2011 as an entire reimagining of how folks use their computer systems. This wasn’t a refinement or an evolution—it was a radical departure from every little thing that got here earlier than. To be truthful, the whole trade was rethinking the desktop interface on the time, largely in response to the rise of touch-based computing—most notably Microsoft’s launch of Home windows 8 in 2012. It’s cheap to imagine GNOME’s builders had been influenced by related concepts.
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With GNOME 3, the acquainted and much-loved two-panel format was gone. There was no conventional taskbar the place you would see your operating purposes at a look. Even the reduce and maximize window buttons had been hidden by default. The complete workflow shifted towards keyboard shortcuts and gestures.
You bought a single, immovable prime panel and a brand new core idea: the Actions overview. You could possibly set off it by urgent the Tremendous key (the Home windows key) or by shifting your mouse to the top-left nook (scorching nook). Out of the blue, your complete workflow revolved round this “overview” display screen, which confirmed all operating purposes inside the present workspace. The workspace switcher appeared on the fitting of the overview displayed, stacked vertically. You additionally received a macOS-like dock known as the Sprint to carry your favourite and operating apps—additionally unique to the overview.
The backlash was brutal. GNOME 3 didn’t simply change the interface—it invalidated years of muscle reminiscence. Linus Torvalds famously known as GNOME 3 an “unholy mess.” Some of the fast drawbacks of this new path was the elimination of desktop icons. With no persistent panel to compensate, people had been pressured to open the Overview each single time they needed to launch an software. Whereas GNOME clearly inspired keyboard shortcuts to open your favourite apps, the brand new design made on a regular basis duties extra cumbersome for individuals who most popular utilizing a mouse.
This controversy triggered an explosion of desktop environments. MATE emerged to protect the GNOME 2 codebase and its conventional workflow. The Linux Mint crew created Cinnamon, providing a traditional desktop paradigm constructed on trendy know-how. Canonical, the corporate behind Ubuntu, deserted GNOME altogether and developed its personal desktop atmosphere—Unity. If at this time’s Linux desktop panorama feels fragmented or overwhelming, a lot of that variety could be traced instantly again to GNOME 3’s controversial redesign.
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Extensions to the rescue—type of
GNOME Shell extensions finally grew to become the saving grace. These third-party modifications allowed customers to customise GNOME 3 into one thing resembling GNOME 2’s performance and workflow. However there was a catch—most of those extensions broke with practically each GNOME replace. Individuals needed to wait a couple of weeks to perhaps a month earlier than the damaged extensions had been made suitable with the newer GNOME model.
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This grew to become the nice irony of GNOME. The venture got down to construct a cutting-edge, boundary-pushing desktop atmosphere, but it ended up working greatest on stable, long-term support distributions with infrequent updates. The very qualities GNOME 3 was designed round—bleeding-edge growth and speedy iteration—made it irritating to make use of until you caught to older, extra conservative launch cycles.
GNOME 40+ (2021-Current): What GNOME 3 ought to’ve been from the beginning
After practically a decade of GNOME 3, the venture dropped its point-release numbering and jumped straight to GNOME 40 in March 2021. This marked yet one more main overhaul of GNOME’s design and workflow—however this time, it was much better acquired. For many individuals, GNOME 40 felt like what GNOME 3 ought to have been from the start.
The Actions overview nonetheless stays central to the expertise, but it surely now makes far more sense. Workspaces shifted from a vertical stack to a horizontal, film-strip-style format that feels pure and intuitive. While you set off the Actions overview, your workspaces are organized facet by facet throughout the middle of the display screen. The Sprint sits on the backside in a horizontal orientation, making it straightforward to launch new apps and change between operating ones.
GNOME additionally launched true 1:1 touchpad gesture assist, and it stays the most effective implementations out there on any desktop OS. Swiping left and proper with three-fingers helps you to change between workspaces, a four-finger swipe-up helps you to enter the Actions overview, and dragging home windows throughout areas feels far more fluid and intentional. The complete expertise comes collectively in a manner GNOME 3 by no means fairly achieved. You get a definite workflow, polished animations, and an interface that feels premium and thoughtfully designed.
Consequently, GNOME stands out as one of the vital modern-looking Linux desktop environments out there at this time. Is it a unanimous hit on the extent of GNOME 2? No. However it has constructed a genuinely distinctive id—each visually and in the way it works—distinct from Home windows and macOS. In reality, in case you take the time to be taught its workflow, GNOME rewards you with a extra centered and deliberate manner of utilizing your laptop.
GNOME 50 incoming: The long run and past
On the time of writing, GNOME 49 is the present secure launch, with GNOME 50 simply across the nook. You possibly can already attempt it by putting in GNOME OS. Up to now, there doesn’t look like any main design overhaul on the horizon. As a substitute, the main target stays on continued refinement of the GNOME 40-era expertise. Truthfully, I’m completely effective with that. If GNOME stored this workflow largely unchanged till 2030, I wouldn’t complain. Proper now, GNOME feels secure. It’s trendy, polished, and—most significantly—it really works.
GNOME OS is pre-release software program and shouldn’t be used in your fundamental PC. Ideally, it is best to set up it on a digital machine utilizing GNOME Boxes or on a spare system.
That stated, the extension downside nonetheless persists. Third-party extensions proceed to interrupt with GNOME updates, which signifies that in case you rely closely on customization, you’re higher off sticking to secure distributions moderately than rolling release ones. I don’t anticipate this downside to be totally resolved anytime quickly—however who is aware of? If there’s one factor GNOME has persistently confirmed, it’s that it likes to make expectation-defying modifications.
Whereas most desktop environments attempt to replicate Home windows or macOS, GNOME has at all times been about standing by itself toes (pun meant). Typically that philosophy leads to unquestionable success—GNOME 2 being the clearest instance. Different occasions, it sparked large controversy, as with GNOME 3. However all through its historical past, GNOME has refused to let public opinion steer it away from what its builders believed was proper. In that sense, GNOME can also be the story of free software program preserving its personal freedom and uniqueness.
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