September 2013 – GNOME Foundation

GNOME 3.10 Released!

The latest update to GNOME 3, version 3.10, has been released. This release comes six months after the previous version, and includes new features, new applications, and many improvements.

Introducing the release, Allan Day (GNOME Design Team) said, ‟GNOME 3.10 is a significant upgrade for our users, and developers will benefit from new features in the application development platform. Our contributors did an incredible job and have created a really exciting release.“

Highlights in this release include:

A reworked system status area, which gives a more focused overview of your system.
‟Software“, which provides an easy way to browse and install applications.
A collection of new applications, including Maps, Notes, Music and Photos.
New geolocation features, such as automatic time zones and world clocks.
Hi-resolution display and smart card support.

You can find out more details about these features, as well as the many other improvements, in the GNOME 3.10 release notes.

GNOME 3.10 also introduces initial Wayland support. This represents a major technological step forward for GNOME, and will enable the project to fully adopt the next generation display and input technology in the future.

The GNOME Project is a member of the GNU Project, and GNOME 3.10 comes just days before GNU’s 30th anniversary. Speaking about the 3.10 release, John Sullivan, Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation, said: ‟the GNOME 3.10 release exemplifies what GNU is about — technical and ethical excellence. The Free Software Foundation is proud to showcase the GNOME community’s work when talking to potential new free software users, and as GNOME users ourselves, we’re very thankful for these new improvements.“

Further information and reactions can be found in the GNOME 3.10 press release.

GNOME Foundation Announces GNOME 3.10

Orinda, CA– The GNOME Project is proud to release GNOME 3.10 today. The latest milestone release in the GNOME 3 series includes many new features, applications and bug fixes, as well as enhancements and updates to many existing applications.

“Days before the GNU System’s 30th birthday, the GNOME 3.10 release exemplifies what GNU is about — technical and ethical excellence,” said John Sullivan, Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation. “The Free Software Foundation is proud to showcase the GNOME community’s work when talking to potential new free software users, and as GNOME users ourselves, we’re very thankful for these new improvements.”

Highlights for GNOME 3.10 include:

Experimental Wayland support
A reworked system status area, which gives a more focused overview of your system.
Three new applications (which are technology previews): Maps, Music and Software.
Three new additions to the core set of GNOME applications: Notes, Photos and Weather.
‟Software“, which provides an easy way to browse and install applications.
New geolocation features, such as automatic time zones and world clocks.
The ability to set a custom image on the lock screen.
High-resolution display support

For developers, there are new GTK widgets, a geo-location framework that will allow location aware applications, and the ability to define composite widgets using XML.

“GNOME has pioneered the development and support of code that is now core infrastructure for many diverse Free desktops, including DBus, accessibility support and Network Manager,” said Matthew Garrett, Linux kernel developer and security expert. “As a result, it’s unsurprising that GNOME is the first to ship with support for a next-generation display server in the form of Wayland. GNOME’s commitment to improving the underlying platform is vital to the future of Free Software and provides a service to the entire community.”

Users will see many changes in this release which allows greater customization than in previous releases, such as the ability to customize the background of the lock screen. Other changes include allowing app browsing using pagination instead of scrolling, fine scrolling in applications with precise movements, an enhanced and redesigned login screen, and improvements to user settings. Finally, the system status menu has been redesigned by consolidating many of the smaller menus including wifi, bluetooth, sound, brightness and power into a single drop-down menu providing quick easy access to all.

A new Software application will provide a GNOME centric consistent interface to installing and maintaining software regardless of the distribution you will use. In the future, Software will be improved to include comments and ratings and other exciting developments to help choose the best software for your tasks.

For those using new hardware like the Chrombook Pixel, support for high resolution displays will ensure a consistent look independent of the resolution.

Allan Day, who was recognized at GUADEC as 2013’s most distingushed contributor said, “GNOME 3.10 is a significant upgrade for our users, and developers will benefit from new features in the application development platform. Our contributors did an incredible job and have created a really exciting release.”

The GNOME Foundation thanks all of the contributors for their hard work, perseverance, and vision in this release.

About GNOME

GNOME was started in 1997 by two then-university students, Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena Quintero. Their aim: to produce a free (as in freedom) desktop environment. Since then, GNOME has grown into a hugely successful enterprise. Used by millions of people around the world, it is the most popular environment for GNU/Linux and UNIX-type operating systems. GNOME’s software has been utilized in successful, large-scale enterprise and public deployments.

The GNOME community is made up of hundreds of contributors from all over the world, many of whom are volunteers. This community is supported by the GNOME Foundation, an independent non-profit organization that provides financial, organizational and legal assistance. The Foundation is a democratic institution that is directed by its members, who are all active GNOME contributors. GNOME and its Foundation works to promote software freedom through the creation of innovative, accessible, and beautiful user experiences.

Interview with Andrew Lee of Private Internet Access

We recently had the chance to sit down and talk to Andrew Lee, co-founder of GNOME’s newest advisory board member Private Internet Access. Andrew Lee is a long-time privacy advocate, and has co-founded several other privacy related companies in the past including Mt Gox Live which was later acquired by Mt Gox the leading Bitcoin exchange. To learn more about GNOME’s Advisory Board and the addition of Private Internet Access, check out our press release.

How did you come to know about GNOME?

We actually knew of GNOME for quite awhile. However, we started using GNOME more actively when it was known as “Ximian GNOME” back in the day.

Do you know what percentage of your users are using GNU/Linux?

We do not have any specific numbers regarding the percentage of our customers who use GNU/Linux. However, with that said, we’re confident that most of our customers are using GNU/Linux in some form, whether on their desktop or mobile device.

Who do you recommend your services for?

We recommend that our services are used by most everyone in the world who values their privacy.

What is your take on private internet use in light of the recent news on
security? Are you worried about PIA’s continued operation?

Private Internet use is definitely set to increase given the newfound awareness amongst society about dragnet surveillance operations and, in general, the overall loss of privacy. We’re not worried about Private Internet Access’ continued operation as we’ve discussed with several subject matter legal experts within this realm, and now, the company is structured in a way that we should be around for a very long time.
With that said, please be sure to read our official response in regards to the PRISM/NSA debacle

Private Internet Access joins the GNOME Foundation’s Advisory Board

Orinda, CA — September 23, 2013 — The GNOME Foundation is pleased to announce that Private Internet Access has joined GNOME’s advisory board. The Advisory Board is a body of stakeholder organizations and companies who support the GNOME Project by providing funding and expert consultation. Last month during GUADEC, GNOME announced that the Linux Foundation was added to the advisory board, joining IBM, Google, Intel and the Free Software Foundation, among others.

Andrew Lee, co-founder of Private Internet Access said “We’ve been very fond of GNOME at Private Internet Access for quite a long time. When GNOME announced its new initiatives towards greater privacy functionality, our fondness quickly became a strong admiration. We’re very proud to support GNOME and its continued commitment to open source, usability and, most importantly, privacy.”

Private Internet Access, founded in August 2010 is a VPN service provider offering anonymous and encrypted VPN. The service operates at the TCP/IP interface level, allowing all applications to be secured, not just the web browser. Private Internet Access has publicly commited itself to user privacy. It is a small U.S.-based company, with thousands of users.

“I am excited to welcome Private Internet Access as a GNOME Advisory Board member,” said Tobias Mueller, member of the board of directors of the GNOME Foundation. “This is a great example of how the support for Free Software is growing and highlights how we are aligned in our missions to put users in control.”

The nonprofit GNOME Foundation is an independent organization committed to supporting the advancement of the GNOME Project and software freedom. It provides financial, organizational and legal support to the GNOME project and helps determine its vision and roadmap. GNOME software is used by millions of people around the world.