Chapter 1. An Introduction to GNOME

Table of Contents
What is GNOME
About This Guide

What is GNOME

GNOME is an acronym for GNU Object Model Environment. GNU is a free software project to design free software for various UNIX operating systems. The project was started in 1984 and has gained in popularity with the advent of the Linux operating system. If you would like to learn more about the GNU project you can read about it at http://www.gnu.org.

GNOME is a desktop environment developed for Linux by hundreds of programmers across the world in an Open Source development environment. The source code for GNOME, and GNOME itself are freely available to anyone. If you would like to learn more about the GNOME project you may visit the GNOME Web Site.

The GNOME project was started to make a user friendly desktop environment for Linux that would become a standard for Linux users worldwide. GNOME has everything you would expect from a modern desktop for any operating system. GNOME is also designed to provide the user the power of configuration. GNOME is very configurable and allows the user to modify their desktop to suit their needs and tastes.

Above all, users of other operating systems should be right at home using the powerful graphics driven desktop the GNOME provides.