A Brief History of GNOME Jonathan Blandford <
[email protected]> July 29, 2017 MANCHESTER, UK 2 A Brief History of GNOME 2 Setting the Stage 1984 - 1997 A Brief History of GNOME 3 Setting the stage ● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT ● ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Early graphics system for ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 Unix systems ● 1991 — Initial Linux release ● Created by MIT ● 1991 — Era of big projects ● Focused on mechanism, ● 1993 — Distributions appear not policy ● 1995 — Windows 95 released ● Holy Moly! X11 is almost ● 1995 — The GIMP released 35 years old ● 1996 — KDE Announced A Brief History of GNOME 4 twm circa 1995 ● Network Transparency ● Window Managers ● Netscape Navigator ● Toolkits (aw, motif) ● Simple apps ● Virtual Desktops / Workspaces A Brief History of GNOME 5 Setting the stage ● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto ● Founded by Richard Stallman ● ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 Our fundamental Freedoms: ○ Freedom to run ● 1991 — Initial Linux release ○ Freedom to study ● 1991 — Era of big projects ○ Freedom to redistribute ○ Freedom to modify and ● 1993 — Distributions appear improve ● 1995 — Windows 95 released ● Also, a set of compilers, ● 1995 — The GIMP released userspace tools, editors, etc. ● 1996 — KDE Announced This was an overtly political movement and act A Brief History of GNOME 6 Setting the stage ● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT “The licenses for most software are ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto designed to take away your freedom to ● 1991 — GNU General Public License share and change it. By contrast, the v2.0 GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and ● 1991 — Initial Linux release change free software--to make sure the ● 1991 — Era of big projects software is free for all its users.