 | |
 GNOME 2.18 desktop with Panel | |
| Developer(s) | GNOME Project |
|---|---|
| Initial release | June 26, 2002 |
| Final release | 2.32
/ September 29, 2010 |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Platform | GTK |
| Predecessor | GNOME 1 |
| Successor | GNOME 3, MATE |
| Type | Desktop environment |
| License | GPL-2.0-only |
| Website | gnome.org (archived at Wayback Machine) |
GNOME 2 is the second major release of the GNOME desktop environment. Building upon the release of GNOME 1, development of GNOME 2 focused on a greater design-oriented approach that simplified and standardized elements of the environment. It also introduced modern font and image rendering, with improved accessibility and internationalization, and improved performance. It was released on June 26, 2002 at the Linux Symposium.
Although officially superseded by GNOME 3, and no longer actively maintained, GNOME 2 became the basis for the MATE desktop environment, which actively continues development. It also helped to inspire the Cinnamon desktop environment, and the GNOME Flashback shell session, which both largely retain a similar user experience to GNOME 2, but with modern components.