[dba-Tech] Open Source World Gnome 3

For those of you who are not consumers of the Linux world desktop, though I
am sure all of you use Linux servers products whether you are aware of it or
not. (It is estimated that around 80 percent of the server market is
Linux/Unix which means most of the internet and fortune 500 companies.)
 
The Linux world is unlike the Windows world where the desktop and operating
system is one unit. In the Linux world the Windows desktop or presentation
manager is two distinct separate components.

There are a dozen different desktops and numerous variations and this is
what makes one distribution of Linux different from the rest. The following
link shows a gallery of the major players: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment

The two top contenders are KDE, which has a similar interface to that of
Windows and Gnome which has a similar interface to that of the Mac.

After almost 3 years the new version of the Gnome desktop has finally been
released. This version has all the features you would expect from the newest
desktops and more. See the link below:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/gnome-3-launches

The touch screen drivers have not been completed yet but will be released in
the next 6 months; Gnome 3.2. This will not have a big effect for most
current users but in the huge corporate POS market it will be huge. Windows
will still be predominant for the next foreseeable future but as this viable
alternative will be available I would suspect to see many franchises will be
seriously looking for their next roll-out contenders.

One note: The new version of Gnome will require a better video card than the
current old clunker you probably have your current Linux distro running on.

Jim