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Gnome 2.18 Released

Posted by samzenpus on from the brand-spanking-new dept.

xdancergirlx writes "Gnome 2.18 was released today (on time as usual). Detailed release notes are available. Nothing revolutionary in this release but definitely some nice new features, bug fixes, and improvements."

21 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Gnome by xaositects · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gnome 2.18: Nothing special really, just somewhat improved infravision, an extra +10 bonus to detect uneven grades, worked out some bugs in the "failure to run from big scary trolls due to lack of common sense" department. Should be a somewhat more usable gnome.

  2. Gnome 2.18 with performance improvements! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks to those I got first post!

    1. Re:Gnome 2.18 with performance improvements! by Mikachu · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hah, first post. Bet you wish you were using KDE now, don't you. ;)

  3. Did they include... by Daemonik · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Linus' usability patches?

    http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/16/19372 37

    1. Re:Did they include... by muszek · · Score: 5, Informative

      AFAIR they haven't, because they were submitted after the feature freeze (or some other kind of a freeze). Don't quote me on that, my memory is a tricy thing.

    2. Re:Did they include... by macshit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Linus' patches don't "fix" anything.

      They remove an unnecessary and artificial restriction -- and also apparently simplify the code, which is always a good thing.

      they add one feature.. in particular, the ability to configure left, right and middle click to do what you like. Which, ya know, is useful to like 3 people.

      It sounds pretty useful to me... Obviously the MS-raised proles will never use it, but many more clueful people use Gnome too ("like, ya know").

      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
    3. Re:Did they include... by Breakfast+Pants · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Gnome file dialog can turn anyone into a jackass.

      --

      --

      WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
  4. Priorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Personal security is now fully integrated into the desktop, allowing digitally signed communications, encryption of emails and local files, and user-friendly management of personal keys. Internationalization records progress in all directions, with support for vertical text layout and a full Arabic localization matching the quality standards. The official release incorporates essential tools for developers, which hopefully will contribute to get more and better software for the GNOME users.

    What's more important, for the first time we ship online games, chess with a 3D look, and endless Sudoku entertainment.

    Good thing we've got our priorities straight.

  5. I can't feel any responsiveness improvements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I use both KDE and GNOME on a regular basis. I really don't have a preference either way; both allow me to get my work done well enough. But what I've noticed is that with each KDE release, it feels significantly more responsive than the previous releases. I can't say the same with GNOME. If anything, it seems to be getting slower as time goes on. I use OpenBSD, so I end up compiling all of the packages myself. I use the optimal C and C++ compiler flags for my particular system. It's not a matter of my using KDE packages built with a more recent version of GCC, or something like that.

    In any case, earlier today I built GNOME 2.18 on my system. I've been using it for a few hours now. And compared to the KDE 3.5.6 installation I was using earlier today, I think it's significantly slower. Evolution is far more heavy-weight than KMail. Nautilus takes longer to display directories. I have one directory with about 15000 photos in it. Nautilus crashes when viewing it, while with Konqueror I can easily scroll through the thumbnails within about a second.

    Maybe it's just a quality control problem with GNOME. While I don't follow the development mailing lists very closely, I've heard from co-workers that GNOME is suffering from some pretty serious organizational issues. Low-quality code is being accepted into GTK+ and GNOME itself, and many people are noticing a decrease in its quality as of late. Maybe somebody can shed more light on whether or not these rumors are true?

    1. Re:I can't feel any responsiveness improvements. by thephotoman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The biggest problem I have with GNOME as a user is Evolution. Simply put, Evolution needs to be scrapped in favor of something else. Its Exchange functionality is non-functional, and its calendar could be easily replaced by something else. Why not just do what they did with the default browser and fork from Mozilla? Surely, it'd suck less.

      Nautilus is in dire need of a code audit, just to ensure that everything in there is up to par. Hells, if I were in charge at GNOME, I'd probably stop developing new features in Nautilus and work on the audit for the next cycle.

      Honestly, though, the one thing that hurts GNOME the most is the six month release cycle. If they'd even just use a single one-year release cycle, just to clean things up, they'd be in much better shape.

      All that said, though, GNOME is my desktop. It's what I learned first, and honestly, KDE's configurability just scares me. Also, I remember too well a time when KDE looked like shit out of the box. Thankfully, that's no longer a problem.

      --
      Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
    2. Re:I can't feel any responsiveness improvements. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      and honestly, KDE's configurability just scares me
      I used to be the exact same way. However, a few years ago I decided to sit down and configure KDE to my liking. Now that I've done so, I wouldn't even consider going back to Gnome. If you use your computer for hours every day, I would strongly suggest spending a bit of time to configure KDE. The relatively small amount of time it takes to configure everything to your liking is well worth it. In my opinion, it's a much better desktop environment and practically every KDE application is far beyond its Gnome counterpart.

      Also, with the focus on Mono applications, Gnome seems to be getting slower and even more bloated with every release.
    3. Re:I can't feel any responsiveness improvements. by phrasebook · · Score: 5, Funny

      KDE's configurability just scares me

      I know what you mean. I had to configure my background in KDE once. Christ, it gave me THREE options! 'No picture', 'Picture' and 'Slide show'. I mean, WTF? I'm not a rocket surgeon.

      Then I wanted Konqueror to open links in tabs. People are right when they say KDE has a cluttered interface. It dragged me into Settings, then into something called Web Behaviour, and then forced me to click the box saying 'Open links in new tab'. After that I had to rest with 2 hours of TV.

  6. Knome skin by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The big change is they went to a Knome skin that makes it look like KDE.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  7. Nothing revolutionary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    As usual too ;)

  8. Re:Yawn by radarsat1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nothing revolutionary in this release but definitely some nice new features, bug fixes, and improvements.


    Yeah, god, I just can't STAND all this hype.
  9. Re:Underpants gnome? by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was wondering where my tidy-whities went...

    It's 'tighty'. Those things definitely aren't 'tidy' after you leave that nice racing stripe in them.

  10. Re:Yawn by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    The way the post hyped it up, I was expecting something actually exciting.

    WTF? The post even says "Nothing revolutionary in this release".

    If that's hype, you must suffer from spontaneous ejeculation at a repubrocrats/demican rally.

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  11. Re:That's Nice by imboboage0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the year 2007 and we have desktops with the same intelligence as those back in the early 80's.
    Yeah, but the people got worse.


    *ducks*
    --
    Honesty may be the best policy, but by process of elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy.
  12. 3D Chess is everywhere! by pizzach · · Score: 5, Funny

    With the release of GNOME 2.18, it appears there has been a change in the playing field. In order to be considered to a full fledged modern OS, a Three-Dee Chess program must be included with every new operating system. The Release of Mac OS X seems to have started this trend. Microsoft soon followed suit with Windows Vista. Now there is Gnome. Will KDE be pulled into this madness, or will it fall behind into oblivion?!

    Apple Chess

    Windows Chess

    GNOME Chess

    Feel free to flog me now.

    --
    Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
  13. GNOME, Ubuntu, and the colour green... by babbling · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm looking at this screenshot and thinking that it looks quite good. People often complain about the brown in Ubuntu being "ugly", and Ubuntu has stated that they don't want to be "just like Windows" by going for blue. Well, based on that screenshot, I think green would be a good choice.

  14. That's Not Release Notes by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's not "detailed release notes", that's marketing spin. Release notes would mention specific apps, like evolution, and specific fixes, not just buzzwords and superficial brags about how the experience is better.

    Such marketsprach has its place. But the release notes are even more important. And even more important is not pretending that marketsprach is release notes.

    If GNOME release managers don't release that by themselves, then the project is in serious trouble.

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    --
    make install -not war