Interesting Improvements In GNOME 2.24

Earlier this year prior to the release of GNOME 2.22 we had shared eight interesting improvements in GNOME 2.22. Some of these improvements included Epiphany with the WebKit back-end (if built with the proper argument), Evince Document Viewing improvements, Cheese web-camera software, Mousetweaks, the Vinagre VNC client, and Totem enhancements. Now with the official GNOME 2.24 release due out next month, this time around we're sharing a few of the interesting highlights for this GNOME update.

Epiphany, the web browser in GNOME 2.22, had shipped with an option where it could be built with the WebKit rendering engine as opposed to using Mozilla's Gecko engine by default. The WebKit integration though has stabilized and with Epiphany 2.24 it will now use this web-browser back-end by default, which is also used by Apple's Safari browser (Correction: Switching to WebKit has been delayed until GNOME 2.26 as at that time Evolution will also switch over to WebKit). On a similar note, Evolution GroupWare has been improved with enhanced stability, Google Contacts support, WebDAV contacts backend, and message templates.

GNOME's File Manager, Nautilus, does have a few anticipated improvements. Nautilus 2.23/2.24 now supports tabbing (similar to the tabbing mechanism within Firefox and other applications) as well as a column-wise view and key-binding support for Nautilus extensions.

Cheese, the GNOME web-camera software that was introduced with GNOME 2.22, is also scheduled for a few improvements. Cheese is supposed to pick up a new OpenGL backend with new video effects, improved desktop integration, and data synchronization.