As Linux gains a following among developers,… a dedicated
group of volunteer developers are working to make sure the open
source operating system has a face on the desktop, too.
… around 30 developers [are] working on the GNU Network Object
Model Environment, or GNOME.
The hope is to have a cross-platform GUI for Linux and other
modern Unix variants that will offer developers a sophisticated
object model and easy-to-use tools, a la Windows.
Meanwhile, some friction is rising in the Linux camp over the
GUI on the desktop.
Whereas Linux distributors Red Hat Software Inc. and Debian have
picked GNOME as their future desktop environments, another major
Linux packager, Caldera Systems Inc., uses the K Desktop
Environment (KDE), a GUI that uses graphics libraries from Toll
Tech, a Norwegian company, with its OpenLinux 3.1, which shipped
last month.