Features Coming In For The GNOME 3.8 Desktop

While many GNOME Linux users are upset over GNOME 3.8 dropping its fallback mode, this next release of the GNOME desktop environment is set to offer a number of new features.

Among the features currently being worked on for GNOME 3.8 include:

- Porting GNOME Shell to use X Input 2 (Xi2) as it's needed for multi-touch and gestures handling.

- Integrated application search within the GNOME Shell by allowing applications to be "search providers."

- Improvements to GNOME Clocks.

- Notification filtering within the GNOME Shell.

- Integrating ownCloud into GNOME for having your own cloud service, similar to KDE.

- Implementing a UI for color tinting support within the GNOME Shell.

- User-interface improvements to GNOME's Totem video player.

- Evolution should support Ubuntu's single sign-on (SSO) framework, finish migrating to WebKit/GTK+, remove the legacy IMAP back-end, and provide a new importer framework.

- The Epiphany web-browser should have various user-interface enhancements, getting WebKit2 support merged, and have new back-end functionality.

- Frame synchronization support for GTK+ and the Mutter compositor.

Many of these upcoming GNOME features are outlined from the GNOME Live Roadmap Wiki.

Further out on the horizon is GNOME 4.0 and the GNOME OS.