GNOME 1.0: The Free Software Alternative

The "Desktop Wars" in the Linux world have officially begun. While KDE has been around for a year, its reliance on the then-proprietary Qt library was a deal-breaker for many in the Free Software community. Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena started GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) to provide a completely free alternative.

The Power of GTK+

GNOME is built on GTK+, the toolkit originally developed for the GIMP. Unlike Qt, GTK+ is licensed under the LGPL, making it safe for all kinds of software.

GNOME 1.0 feels a bit more "raw" than KDE 1.0, but it’s incredibly flexible. The use of CORBA (specifically ORBit) for component communication is an ambitious move. The idea is that different applications can embed parts of each other, similar to Microsoft's OLE/COM.

The Panel and Applets

One of the stand-out features is the "Panel." It’s highly configurable and supports "applets"—small programs that live inside the panel. I already have a CPU monitor and a clock running there.

/* A snippet of what a GNOME app looks like in C */
#include <gnome.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    gnome_init("hello", "1.0", argc, argv);
    GtkWidget *app = gnome_app_new("hello", "Hello Gnome");
    gtk_widget_show(app);
    gtk_main();
    return 0;
}

Outlook

The competition between KDE and GNOME is going to be fierce. While it might seem like a waste of effort to have two competing desktops, it’s actually driving innovation at a breakneck pace. GNOME's commitment to the GNU philosophy ensures that we will always have a high-quality, free desktop environment. I’m sticking with GNOME for now, if only to support the "Free" in Free Software.