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A Brief History of GNOME Jonathan Blandford

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 system for

● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 systems

● 1991 — Initial 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 circa 1995

● Network Transparency ● Managers

Navigator

● Toolkits (aw, )

● Simple apps

● Virtual Desktops /

A Brief History of GNOME 5 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT

● 1985 — GNU Manifesto ● Founded by ● ● 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 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 --to make sure the ● 1991 — Era of big projects software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of ● 1993 — Distributions appear the 's software ● 1995 — Windows 95 released and to any other program whose authors commit to using it…” ● 1995 — The GIMP released

● 1996 — KDE Announced –GNU GPL v2 preamble

A Brief History of GNOME 7 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT From: [email protected] (Linus ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Benedict Torvalds) ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 Subject: What would you like to see most in ? ● 1991 — Initial Linux release Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT ● 1991 — Era of big projects Hello everybody out there using minix – ● 1993 — Distributions appear

● 1995 — Windows 95 released I’m doing a (free) (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional ● 1995 — The GIMP released like ) for 386(486) AT clones. This ● 1996 — KDE Announced has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready…

A Brief History of GNOME 8 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT Linux (‘91)

● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Python (‘91) Samba (‘92) ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 Apache (‘95) ● 1991 — Initial Linux release mysql (‘95) ● 1991 — Era of big projects (‘95) ● 1993 — Distributions appear postgresql (‘96) ● 1995 — Windows 95 released KDE (‘96)

● 1995 — The GIMP released GNOME (‘97) (‘98) ● 1996 — KDE Announced (‘01) ...

A Brief History of GNOME 9 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT SLS (‘92) ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto (‘93) ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 (‘93) ● 1991 — Initial Linux release Suse (‘94)

● 1991 — Era of big projects (‘94) (‘04) ● 1993 — Distributions appear CentOS (‘04) ● 1995 — Windows 95 released Mint (‘06) ● 1995 — The GIMP released (‘06) ● 1996 — KDE Announced ChromeOS (‘09) SteamOS (‘13) EOS (‘13) A Brief History of GNOME 10 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Windows 95 ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 ● Dominated the industry like ● 1991 — Initial Linux release nothing before or since ● 1991 — Era of big projects ● Rocketed to take 98% PC ● 1993 — Distributions appear Market share by 1998 ● 1995 — Windows 95 released ● was SCARY, and played for keeps ● 1995 — The GIMP released

● 1996 — KDE Announced

Never forget!!

A Brief History of GNOME 11 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT ● GNU Image Manipulation ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Program. Inspired by ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 Photoshop, started at ● 1991 — Initial Linux release Berkeley ● 1991 — Era of big projects ● Fully Free Software except ● 1993 — Distributions appear for Motif as the underlying

● 1995 — Windows 95 released ● Led to GTK+ being created ● 1995 — The GIMP released ● Initial cultural pool for ● 1996 — KDE Announced GNOME hackers

A Brief History of GNOME 12 Setting the stage

● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT ● First major effort at a coordinated Desktop ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Project ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 ● Free Software code as the ● 1991 — Initial Linux release core desktop. Based on ● 1991 — Era of big projects as the underlying widget ● 1993 — Distributions appear toolkit

● 1995 — Windows 95 released ● It was amazing, but... ● 1995 — The GIMP released ● 1996 — KDE Announced This was not Free Software

A Brief History of GNOME 13 Desktop Wars Begin

1997 - 1999

A Brief History of GNOME 14 Desktop wars begin From: To: [email protected], 1997 @fiwi02.wiwi. uni-tuebingen.de, ● Miguel announces GNOME Project [email protected] Subject: The GNOME Desktop project. ● GNOME vs KDE Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 22:19:34 -0500 1998 The GNOME Desktop project ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat (GNU Network Object Model ● Qt relicenses to the QPL Environment) http://bananoid.nuclecu.unam.mx/gnome ● Project Bob

Goals: We want to develop a free and complete set of user friendly applications and desktop tools, similar to CDE and KDE but based entirely on free software....

A Brief History of GNOME 15 Desktop wars begin VS

1997

● Miguel announces GNOME Project Massive fight breaks out across the Linux scene: ● GNOME vs KDE 1998 ● vs. C++ ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat ● vs. America ● Qt relicenses to the QPL ● Corporate vs. Hackers

● Project Bob ● Qt vs. GTK+ ● Cats vs. Dogs ● Riots and chaos in the streets!

A Brief History of GNOME 16 Desktop wars begin

1997

● Miguel announces GNOME Project Red Hat Advanced Development Labs ● GNOME vs KDE

1998 Early corporate engagement. ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat Seven full-time engineers ● Qt relicenses to the QPL working on GNOME

● Project Bob Took over some of the less-glamorous work at the time

A Brief History of GNOME 17 GNOME 0.30 September, 1998

● The Panel ● Panel Applets ● (GMC) ● Control center settings ● Simple games ● Simple utilities ● Login Manager ● help browser ● VFS layer ● (gnome-) ● () ● Word Processor (abi) ● Themes ● CORBA ● Canvas ● Internationalized Keyboard

A Brief History of GNOME 18 Desktop wars begin

1997

● Miguel announces GNOME Project Trolltech invented a new license ● GNOME vs KDE

1998 In theory it changed everything. ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat In practice it changed nothing... ● Qt relicenses to the QPL In a couple years, Trolltech ● Project Bob would fully embrace the GPL w/ a licensing exception

A Brief History of GNOME 19 Desktop wars begin 1997 Project Bob ● Miguel announces GNOME Project The mission: 36 Hours to get ● GNOME vs KDE something that could be shown 1998 to Red Hat’s board so GNOME ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat wouldn’t be cut ● Qt relicenses to the QPL The solution: Spend 36 hours ● Project Bob without sleeping to get a working desktop

A Brief History of GNOME 20 Desktop wars begin

1997 Project Bob ● Miguel announces GNOME Project The mission: 36 Hours to get ● GNOME vs KDE something that could be shown 1998 to Red Hat’s board so GNOME ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat wouldn’t be cut ● Qt relicenses to the QPL The solution: Spend 36 hours ● Project Bob without sleeping to get a working desktop

The actual solution: Write a cool new !

A Brief History of GNOME 21 Battle for Dominance and Survival

1998 - 2001

A Brief History of GNOME 22 Battle for dominance 1999 GNOME 1.0 ● GNOME 1.0 Released at Linux Expo ● Helixcode, , and Sun 2000 Barely worked. Everything ● GUADEC in crashed ● The GNOME Foundation ● and clocks Terrible press conference with

2001 RMS yelling at the New York ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust Times for not saying “GNU ● buys , then Suse slash Linux” ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 23 GNOME 1.0 (March 1999)

A Brief History of GNOME 24 Battle for dominance

1999 HelixCode was founded by Miguel de ● GNOME 1.0 Icaza and . It later became ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun Ximian - Evolution 2000 - ● GUADEC in Paris Eazel was founded by of ● The GNOME Foundation MacOS fame - nautilus ● Sun Microsystems and clocks - Gnome-vfs 2001 Sun was the biggest Unix vendor at the ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust time ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse - GNOME ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 25 Battle for dominance

1999 ● GNOME 1.0 GNOME Users And Developers ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun European Conference

2000 - Where the project gets ● GUADEC in Paris together to recharge and ● The GNOME Foundation renew ● Sun Microsystems and clocks - Started in Paris in 2000 2001 - 18th is here in Manchester! ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 26 Battle for dominance

1999 ● GNOME 1.0 Started in a Parisian Café ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun Initial members: Compaq, Eazel, 2000 Helix Code, IBM, Red Hat, Sun ● GUADEC in Paris Microsystems, and VA Linux ● The GNOME Foundation ● Sun Microsystems and clocks Bylaws forbid any one company

2001 from holding more than ⅓ of the ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust seats on the Board of Directors ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 27 GNOME Foundation March, 2000

● Accessibility ● Moderators ● Accounts ● Outreach ● Design ● QA/Bugsquad ● Documentation ● Release Team ● Diversity ● Safety ● Engagement ● Sysadmin ● Membership & Elections ● Translations ● Maintainers ● Usergroups

A Brief History of GNOME 28 GNOME 1.2 May, 2000

● Default panel Layout ● ()

● Sound daemon (esound) ● It mostly worked

A Brief History of GNOME 29 Battle for dominance

1999 Very influential GUADEC presentation by Calum Benson ● GNOME 1.0 ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun ● GNOME 1.4 shipped with

2000 five(!) different clocks ● User testing showed that ● GUADEC in Paris users couldn’t find a way to ● The GNOME Foundation tell the time ● Sun Microsystems and clocks ● Beginning of design centric 2001 culture ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse From here on out, GNOME only ● OSX 10.0 released removes features

A Brief History of GNOME 30 Evolution of the logo 1997 - 2002

A Brief History of GNOME 31 Battle for dominance

1999 ● GNOME 1.0 ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun

2000 ● GUADEC in Paris ● The GNOME Foundation ● Sun Microsystems and clocks

2001 ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 32 Battle for dominance

1999 ● GNOME 1.0 Novell buys Ximian. For a brief ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun moment, things are good. 2000 ● GUADEC in Paris Three months later they buy ● The GNOME Foundation Suse, and the Desktop Wars ● Sun Microsystems and clocks rage on, now internally.

2001 They didn’t know what they ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust were getting into…. ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 33 GNOME 1.4 April, 2001

● File Manager (nautilus) ● System Monitor (gtop) ● System updater ● system-wide settings ()

A Brief History of GNOME 34 Battle for dominance

1999 ● GNOME 1.0 ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun

2000 ● GUADEC in Paris ● The GNOME Foundation ● Sun Microsystems and clocks

2001 ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust ● Novell buys Ximian, then Suse ● OSX 10.0 released

A Brief History of GNOME 35 OSX Eats our Base: Slow Decline

2002 - 2005

A Brief History of GNOME 36 OSX eats our base 2002 GNOME 2.0 ● GNOME 2.0 Complete rethinking of the ● Time based releases. Turn the crank desktop ● Accessibility

2003 Start of a on design and ● Settings → Preferences usability

● “Just works” Completely controversial. 2004 Rejected by many existing users ● Stateless Managed Linux

● Ubuntu arrives on the scene Customizers went to KDE

A Brief History of GNOME 37 GNOME 2.0 June, 2002

● dbus ● Design Team and focus ● Time-based release ● Internationalized text () ● Right-to-left text ● anti-aliased fonts ● parsing library ● Event-driven system architecture ● Global Input methods ● Accessibility ● Video Playback ()

A Brief History of GNOME 38 OSX eats our base

2002 GNOME pioneered the idea of time based releases ● GNOME 2.0 ● Time based releases. Turn the crank Continues to this day. Every six ● Accessibility months for fifteen straight

2003 years

● Settings → Preferences If a feature isn’t ready, it gets ● “Just works” kicked out! 2004

● Stateless Managed Linux

● Ubuntu arrives on the scene

A Brief History of GNOME 39 OSX eats our base Started by Sun Microsystems 2002 ● GNOME 2.0 Brought the concept of ● Time based releases. Turn the crank Universal Access to GNOME

● Accessibility screen-reader, themes, icons, 2003 sticky keys, bounce keys, Braille ● Settings → Preferences devices, etc... ● “Just works” Despite some grumblings, 2004 broadly accepted as a key tenet ● Stateless Managed Linux of the project ● Ubuntu arrives on the scene

A Brief History of GNOME 40 OSX eats our base

2002 “Let’s turn settings into preferences” ● GNOME 2.0 - ● Time based releases. Turn the crank Introduction of the GNOME HIG. Focus on ● Accessibility simplification 2003 Standardized look and feel across apps and ● Settings → Preferences the desktop ● “Just works” Consistency over configurability 2004 [Cancel][OK] ● Stateless Managed Linux

● Ubuntu arrives on the scene

A Brief History of GNOME 41 OSX eats our base

2002 Hardware Enablement

● GNOME 2.0 We drain the swamp ● Time based releases. Turn the crank Rise of the *Kits *Managers and D-Bus ● Accessibility everywhere

2003 Focus on root cause analysis. Problems ● Settings → Preferences fixed from kernel all the way up through the UI ● “Just works”

2004

● Stateless Managed Linux

● Ubuntu arrives on the scene

A Brief History of GNOME 42 OSX eats our base

2002 Influential project done by Red ● GNOME 2.0 Hat ● Time based releases. Turn the crank Predates , Flatpak, ● Accessibility CoreOS, ostree, Endless OS, 2003 Project Atomic by 10 years, but ● Settings → Preferences same model (read only root) ● “Just works”

2004 Drove hardware enablement

● Stateless Managed Linux

● Ubuntu arrives on the scene

A Brief History of GNOME 43 GNOME 2.8 September, 2004

● Hardware detection (Hal / Project Utopia) ● Network discovery ● Automatic Wifi (NM) ● File Indexing ● Power Management ● Reliable suspend/resume ● Document Viewer ● App-level RTL support ● Disk management ● Multimedia keys ● Groupware /calendar (evo)

A Brief History of GNOME 44 OSX eats our base

2002 was at the right place at ● GNOME 2.0 the right time ● Time based releases. Turn the crank Combined Debian, GNOME, and the ● Accessibility kernel into a useful and usable product 2003

● Settings → Preferences Focus on users was correct

● “Just works” Drove GNOME 2.x to a dominant 2004 position across the Linux ecosystem by growing the base ● Stateless Managed Linux

● Ubuntu arrives on the scene

A Brief History of GNOME 45 New Hope! Powerful Patrons

2005 - 2009

A Brief History of GNOME 46 New Hope!

2005 - 2008 Nokia Sponsors a bunch of ● Nokia and work on GNOME ● and The GNOME Contractors: ● Red Hat expands desktop team , Codethink, Igalia, ● Opened Hand, Imendio, etc ● Nokia buys Trolltech all are spawned or grow through this effort

High point in 2005 - 2006

A Brief History of GNOME 47 New Hope! Intel started a Mobile Linux 2005 - 2008 initiative called Moblin ● Nokia and Maemo

● Moblin and Intel Opened Hand develops

● Red Hat expands desktop team for the initiative, purchased by Intel ● One Laptop per Child ● Nokia buys Trolltech Merged with Maemo to create Meego

Beaten by Android in practice

A Brief History of GNOME 48 New Hope!

2005 - 2008 Team grows dramatically ● Nokia and Maemo and focuses on GNOME ● Moblin and Intel Fundamentals ● Red Hat expands desktop team Targets Technical ● One Laptop per Child Workstations successfully ● Nokia buys Trolltech Launches a product called Red Hat Global Desktop to target the developing world

A Brief History of GNOME 49 New Hope!

2005 - 2008

● Nokia and Maemo Creates Sugar based on GNOME Technologies ● Moblin and Intel ● Red Hat expands desktop team Still around in some form. ● One Laptop per Child Super powerful brand, 10

● Nokia buys Trolltech years on. Maybe a little too ambitious and aggressive

A Brief History of GNOME 50 GNOME 2.16 September, 2006

● Root / user split () ● Web Cam support ● Video Player (totem) ● CD Ripper ()

● Document Viewer ()

● Password Manager

● Notes

● Automatic Print dialog

A Brief History of GNOME 51 New Hope!

2005 - 2008

● Nokia and Maemo Nokia: Internal battle results in ● Moblin and Intel moving from GTK+ to Qt. Rewriting everything causes a multi-year delay ● Red Hat expands desktop team and Android eats their lunch ● One Laptop per Child Contractors: Pain, retreat, and ● Online Desktop / consolidation ● Nokia buys Trolltech The party ends for everyone

A Brief History of GNOME 52 Divorce and Chaos

2009 - 2013

A Brief History of GNOME 53 Divorce & Chaos

2009 ● Nokia turns into a pumpkin Nokia is beaten by Android ● GNOME 3 planning begins and iOS 2010 ● / split They try increasingly 2011 desperate moves for a few ● GNOME 3 release more years until they finally ● Desktop explosion, distro discordance disappear into Microsoft

A Brief History of GNOME 54 GNOME 2.28 September, 2009

● Multihead support ● Monitor hotplug support ● Bluetooth ● IM client

● File sharing

support

● Smart card support

A Brief History of GNOME 55 Divorce & Chaos

2009 GNOME 2 was good, but ● Nokia turns into a pumpkin not good enough. Only good ● GNOME 3 planning begins for Linux users

2010 Representatives of Red Hat, ● Unity / Shell split Suse, Debian, Sugar, and 2011 Canonical get together to ● GNOME 3 release plan GNOME 3 ● Desktop explosion, distro discordance Mark attends, but has other plans...

A Brief History of GNOME 56 Divorce & Chaos

2009 ● Nokia turns into a pumpkin Red Hat vs. Canonical ● GNOME 3 planning begins 2010 Wayland vs. ● Unity / Shell split

2011 Shell vs. Unity ● GNOME 3 release Communities split, people ● Desktop explosion, distro discordance choose sides again

A Brief History of GNOME 57 Divorce & Chaos

2009 ● Nokia turns into a pumpkin Massive accomplishment ● GNOME 3 planning begins 2010 Completely controversial. ● Unity / Shell split Rejected by many existing 2011 users ● GNOME 3 release Fighting against Canonical ● Desktop explosion, distro discordance too, this time

A Brief History of GNOME 58 GNOME 3 April, 2011

● Shell ● Extensions ● Built-in chat ● Documents ● ● Touchscreen support ● Onscreen Keyboard ● Desktop Search ● Smooth Scroll ● Touchpad support ● Virtualization support (boxes) ● Clocks ● Privacy controls ● Wacom tablet support ● Topic-oriented help

A Brief History of GNOME 59 Divorce & Chaos

2009 Desktop world fragmented ● Nokia turns into a pumpkin - Ubuntu lost support ● GNOME 3 planning begins - GNOME lost support 2010 - GNOME technologies did okay ● Unity / Shell split

2011 Cinnamon, Mate, Unity, GNOME, Elementary, etc. ● GNOME 3 release ● Desktop explosion, distro discordance No one won in the end

A Brief History of GNOME 60 GNOME 3.8 March, 2013

● Online Accounts ● Contacts ● Lock shield ● Edge pointer force

A Brief History of GNOME 61 New Momentum & Quiet Excellence

2013 - 2017

A Brief History of GNOME 62 New momentum 2013-2016 ● Time based releases again ● Extensions We return to turning the ● Refinement of the shell design crank after 3.0 ● GNOME Applications ● Community rallies

2017 Steady improvement and ● Flatpak and Flathub focus on design ● Reconciliation and opportunity

A Brief History of GNOME 63 New momentum 2013-2016 ● Time based releases again Allowed custom code to be ● Extensions run in the shell, similar to ● Refinement of the shell design applets ● GNOME Applications ● Community rallies Acted as a ‘pressure release’ 2017 for functionality that doesn’t ● Flatpak and Flathub belong in core GNOME ● Reconciliation and opportunity

A Brief History of GNOME 64 New momentum

2013-2016 Fixed worst of the design ● Time based releases again issues ● Extensions ● Refinement of the shell design Thousands of tweaks, ● GNOME Applications refinements, and polish ● Community rallies fixes 2017 Userbase got used to the ● Flatpak and Flathub change. Some sorting took ● Reconciliation and opportunity place

A Brief History of GNOME 65 New momentum Applications: 2013-2016 ● Books ● Time based releases again ● Boxes ● Extensions ● Builder ● Calendar ● Refinement of the shell design ● Clocks ● Documents ● GNOME Applications ● Files ● Community rallies ● Maps ● Music 2017 ● Photos ● Flatpak and Flathub ● Todo ● Videos ● Reconciliation and opportunity ● Web ● Weather

etc., etc. more to come!

A Brief History of GNOME 66 GNOME 3.18 September, 2015

● Maps ● Firmware updates ● Photos ● Weather app ● Captive Portal support ● Multitouch ● Music ● Notes ● HiDPI Support ● Initial user setup ● Calendar ● Builder ● Flatpak ● Multi-touch touchpad ● Todo lists ● drive support (ro)

A Brief History of GNOME 67 New momentum

2013-2016 Groupon Attacks! ● Time based releases again ● Extensions The wider community rallied in response ● Refinement of the shell design ● GNOME Applications 5622 individuals contributed $102,608.76 USD in less than a ● Community rallies week 2017 ● Flatpak and Flathub Three days outrage and action fixed what nine months of negotiations ● Reconciliation and opportunity failed to do

A Brief History of GNOME 68 New momentum 2013-2016 ● Time based releases again ● Extensions Flatpak is ! ● Refinement of the shell design

● GNOME Applications Flathub is here ● Community rallies

2017 Go forth and, uh, flatify ● Flatpak and Flathub things? ● Reconciliation and opportunity

A Brief History of GNOME 69 New momentum 2013-2016 ● Time based releases again ● Extensions ● Refinement of the shell design Ubuntu returns to using ● GNOME Applications GNOME by default!

● Community rallies Opportunity to heal a major 2017 Linux division ● Flatpak and Flathub ● Reconciliation and opportunity

A Brief History of GNOME 70 Final thoughts

2017 and beyond

A Brief History of GNOME 71 Special thanks to:

● Federico Mena Quintero ● Robin Tafel ● Owen Taylor ● Rosanna Yuen

But most of all. Thanks to..

72 A Brief History of GNOME 72 73 A Brief History of GNOME 73 Questions?

74 A Brief History of GNOME 74