OStatic

If you're familiar with GNOME, the multi-platform open source desktop environment that provides an interface and applications for Linux and Unix-centric operating systems, then you know that it's standard practice for a new update to arrive every six months. A new version 2.22 is out now and it combines a bunch of new architectural, under-the-hood features with new applications. GNOME already delivered e-mail, groupware, web browsing, file management, multimedia, and game applications. New to the applications mix are Cheese and Vinagre.

Vinagre (at left) is a remote desktop software and VNC client that can do lots of new things for GNOME users, including connecting with Windows machines, as seen at left. It supports several connections to remote desktops at once, and can browse your local network for VNC servers. It can also store recently used remote connections so you can instantly invoke them.

Cheese (at left) is an application inspired by Apple Photobooth. It lets you use a webcam or digital camera to take photos and videos, applies special effects and lets you share with others. It was originally written as part of Google's 2007 open source Summer of Code event. A tour of its features is available online.

There are also a number of updates to Evolution, GNOME's calendar and messaging application. It supports and synchs with Google Calendars, which is likely to please a lot of people. However, some applications planned for this release of GNOME, such as a VoIP client, won't arrive until later.

Aside from applications, a lot of the improvements in the new version of GNOME are under-the-hood fixes and address a number of stability issues, as described in the release notes. This version of GNOME introduces GVFS, a network-transparent virtual filesystem layer for GTK+. GNOME-VFS can remember login credentials for an entire session and several of the applications in GNOME are already directly integrated with it.

GNOME's document viewer is also now faster and uses less memory than previous versions. We'll update this post with an additional look at some of the main attractions, but you can download the new version for free now. Take a spin!

• GNOME