

The most salient change in GNOME 3 is probably the GNOME shell. The GNOME project has, as planned, published a release candidate for GNOME 3.0, which is expected to be released on 6 April. In an email announcing the release, the developers ask everyone to test this final development preview version. Development has entered the "hard code freeze" phase, in which all changes require the consent of the release team; during this phase, the developers generally only correct flaws and do not make any major changes.

For some background information and screenshots of GNOME 3, visit the project’s web site, GNOME3.org. It also contains a FAQ on the new interface along with links explaining some of the design decisions, including some of the reasons behind a few controversial changes, such as the removal of the buttons to minimise and maximise windows.

(crve)