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. This General Public License applies to most of ● 1993 — Distributions appear the Free Software Foundation'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 minix? ● 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) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional ● 1995 — The GIMP released like gnu) 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 gimp (‘95) ● 1993 — Distributions appear postgresql (‘96) ● 1995 — Windows 95 released KDE (‘96) ● 1995 — The GIMP released GNOME (‘97) Mozilla (‘98) ● 1996 — KDE Announced Eclipse (‘01) ... A Brief History of GNOME 9 Setting the stage ● 1984 — X Windows created at MIT SLS (‘92) ● 1985 — GNU Manifesto Slackware (‘93) ● 1991 — GNU General Public License v2.0 Debian (‘93) ● 1991 — Initial Linux release Suse (‘94) ● 1991 — Era of big projects Red Hat (‘94) Ubuntu (‘04) ● 1993 — Distributions appear CentOS (‘04) ● 1995 — Windows 95 released Mint (‘06) ● 1995 — The GIMP released Sugar (‘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 ● Microsoft 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 widget toolkit ● 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 Qt ● 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: Miguel de Icaza To: [email protected], 1997 [email protected]. 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 ● C vs. C++ ● RHAD Labs formed at Red Hat ● Germany 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 ● File Manager (GMC) ● Control center settings ● Simple games ● Simple utilities ● Login Manager ● help browser ● VFS layer ● Calendar (gnome-cal) ● Spreadsheet (gnumeric) ● 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 theme! 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, Eazel, and Sun 2000 Barely worked. Everything ● GUADEC in Paris crashed ● The GNOME Foundation ● Sun Microsystems and clocks Terrible press conference with 2001 RMS yelling at the New York ● dotcom bubble bursts, Eazel goes bust Times for not saying “GNU ● Novell buys Ximian, 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 Nat Friedman. It later became ● Helixcode, Eazel, and Sun Ximian - Evolution 2000 - bonobo ● GUADEC in Paris Eazel was founded by Andy Hertzfeld 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 Accessibility ● 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 ●