Looking Forward to GNOME 3.0

Development doesn't stop with GNOME 2.30. Work has already begun on GNOME 3.0, due to be released exactly six months after 2.30.

GNOME 3.0 will continue to provide the desktop platform and applications it always has, and will also feature a new user interface in GNOME Shell and the GNOME Activity Journal which easily helps you browse and find files on your computer. GNOME 3.0 also will include new features in accessibility, new user help and documentation, GNOME's first web service in Tomboy Online and more. For developers, GNOME 2.30 deprecates a number of old libraries.

A preview of GNOME Shell is available in 2.30 and is available for download. GNOME Shell features an innovative new user interface using the power of a composited desktop. GNOME Shell makes it easy to add additional workspaces, start frequently used applications, and access your most used files and documents.

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The GNOME Activity Journal is a tool for easily browsing and finding files on your computer. It keeps a chronological journal of all file activity and supports tagging and establishing relationships between groups of files. The GNOME Activity Journal is the graphical user interface for Zeitgeist, the engine that tracks all activity in the desktop with support for tagging and bookmarking items.

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Tomboy Online is also scheduled for GNOME 3.0 and will allow users to sync and access their Tomboy Notes via the web.

For disabled users, the GNOME Accessibility team has a number of new features planned including a new GNOME Magnifier, Caribou, a new on-screen keyboard, and a new preferences user interface.

User help and documentation will see a new GNOME User Guide helping users who are new to GNOME. Yelp, the GNOME Help Browser, will include new features such as bookmarks and improved search capabilities.

GNOME's roadmap details the developers' plans for the next release cycle, the GNOME 3.0 release schedule was released earlier this year and is available on the GNOME wiki.