Ladies and gentlemen, dear geeks... the time has come to announce the release of GNOME 2.26, a light desktop environment used in many popular Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, etc. The new release comes after six months of hard work and it brings a lot of hot new features, improved applications, new translations and updated documentation. The upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), Mandriva 2009 Spring and Fedora 11 Linux distributions will include a fully functional version of the GNOME 2.26 desktop environment, but until then we will introduce you guys to the highlights of this release.

Brasero, the popular and powerful CD/DVD burning application replaced the basic tool that existed prior to this release. Some of Brasero's great features are audio CD burning with audio track preview, track splitting, automatic volume normalization and multisession support. Moreover, multiple burning backends are supported, disc integrity can be checked and CD/DVD covers are a breeze to create.

Burn CDs and DVDs with Brasero

Evolution

Evolution Email Client

Media Player

GNOME Media Player with Subtitle Downloader

Empathy

Empathy Instant Messaging Client

Epiphany

The fast Epiphany Browser with the new location bar

PulseAudio

The new mixer

Display

The redesigned Display control panel

File sharing

If you have a fingerprint reading device and your system allows such authentication, GNOME 2.26 integrated the fprintd service that allows you to register your fingerprint in the "About Me" preferences page. The Deskbar applet was also updated to support OpenSearch plugins.

Smaller changes were made to the panels that can't be moved anymore without holding the Alt key, preventing accidental repositions. Also, an in/out sliding effect was added to them at login and logout. Another discreet and elegant effect reveals itself when you change wallpapers, as they will now crossfade between the old and the new one.

Though 2.26 is far from being a complete overhaul, the new features will please all GNOME users and, who knows, maybe convert some fans of other desktop environments too. I'm especially excited about the new per-application volume control feature in PulseAudio and the fact that Brasero, my all-time favorite burning application, is now the default one in GNOME 2.26. We'll meet again with a new version of the GNOME desktop environment six months from now, when 2.28 is expected to be released.

Download the sources for GNOME 2.26 right now from Softpedia.