<s>
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
is	O
the	O
second	O
major	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
desktop	I-Application
environment	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Building	O
upon	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
1	I-Language
,	O
development	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
focused	O
on	O
a	O
greater	O
design-oriented	B-Application
approach	O
that	O
simplified	O
and	O
standardized	O
elements	O
of	O
the	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
introduced	O
modern	O
font	O
and	O
image	O
rendering	O
,	O
with	O
improved	O
accessibility	O
and	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
improved	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
released	O
on	O
June	O
26	O
,	O
2002	O
at	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
Symposium	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
officially	O
superseded	O
by	O
GNOME	B-Language
3	I-Language
,	O
and	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
actively	O
maintained	O
,	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
became	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
the	O
MATE	B-Language
desktop	I-Language
environment	O
,	O
which	O
actively	O
continues	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
helped	O
to	O
inspire	O
the	O
Cinnamon	B-Language
desktop	I-Language
environment	I-Language
,	O
and	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
Flashback	O
shell	O
session	O
,	O
which	O
both	O
largely	O
retain	O
a	O
similar	O
user	B-Application
experience	I-Application
to	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
,	O
but	O
with	O
modern	O
components	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
's	O
initial	O
release	O
was	O
largely	O
an	O
evolution	O
of	O
the	O
final	O
release	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
1	I-Language
,	O
that	O
had	O
introduced	O
both	O
Nautilus	B-Language
(	O
today	O
known	O
as	O
GNOME	B-Language
Files	I-Language
)	O
as	O
its	O
file	B-Application
manager	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Sawfish	B-Language
as	O
its	O
window	B-Application
manager	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
an	O
effort	O
to	O
simplify	O
its	O
implementation	O
,	O
by	O
the	O
second	O
release	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
,	O
the	O
Metacity	B-Language
window	B-Application
manager	I-Application
had	O
been	O
adopted	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
that	O
,	O
it	O
also	O
included	O
an	O
official	O
look	B-Application
and	I-Application
feel	I-Application
,	O
as	O
it	O
adopted	O
the	O
Clearlooks	B-Application
theme	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
the	O
first	O
time	O
,	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
human	B-Application
interface	I-Application
guidelines	I-Application
were	O
published	O
,	O
which	O
attempted	O
to	O
improve	O
overall	O
usability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
continued	O
with	O
the	O
general	O
desktop	B-Application
metaphor	I-Application
paradigm	O
that	O
GNOME	B-Language
1	I-Language
started	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
evolved	O
GNOME	B-Language
Panel	I-Language
remained	O
as	O
its	O
shell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
saw	O
the	O
addition	O
of	O
font	B-Algorithm
anti-aliasing	I-Algorithm
,	O
which	O
gave	O
the	O
desktop	O
environment	O
a	O
more	O
refined	O
look	O
in	O
its	O
text	O
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
's	O
release	O
cycle	O
spanned	O
the	O
course	O
of	O
over	O
eight	O
years	O
,	O
many	O
component	O
libraries	O
and	O
core	B-Language
applications	I-Language
were	O
introduced	O
and	O
replaced	O
at	O
various	O
points	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GStreamer	B-Language
,	O
a	O
multimedia	B-Library
framework	I-Library
,	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
2.2	O
,	O
which	O
later	O
allowed	O
for	O
the	O
inclusion	O
of	O
the	O
Totem	B-Language
multimedia	O
player	O
(	O
known	O
today	O
as	O
GNOME	B-Language
Videos	I-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Epiphany	B-Language
(	O
known	O
today	O
as	O
GNOME	B-Language
Web	I-Language
)	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
2.4	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Evince	B-Language
(	O
also	O
known	O
today	O
as	O
GNOME	B-Application
Document	O
Viewer	O
)	O
replaced	O
both	O
GPdf	B-Language
and	O
GGV	O
in	O
version	O
2.12	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GNOME	B-Language
1	I-Language
had	O
implemented	O
the	O
CORBA-compliant	B-Architecture
object	B-General_Concept
request	I-General_Concept
broker	I-General_Concept
known	O
as	O
ORBit	B-Application
to	O
serve	O
as	O
its	O
message-oriented	B-Application
middleware	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
version	O
2.2	O
,	O
this	O
middleware	O
was	O
deprecated	O
in	O
favor	O
of	O
the	O
more	O
environment-agnostic	O
D-Bus	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
Bonobo	B-Language
,	O
a	O
software	B-Architecture
framework	I-Architecture
for	O
object-linking	O
in	O
compound	O
documents	O
that	O
had	O
been	O
built-upon	O
ORBit	B-Application
,	O
was	O
also	O
phased-out	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
greater	O
overall	O
standardization	O
was	O
a	O
major	O
goal	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
,	O
it	O
also	O
provided	O
increased	O
functionality	O
in	O
customization	O
,	O
as	O
version	O
2.2	O
supported	O
the	O
ability	O
for	O
full	O
icon	O
themes	O
to	O
be	O
applied	O
for	O
the	O
first	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Discussion	O
around	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
began	O
as	O
early	O
as	O
1999	O
,	O
following	O
the	O
initial	O
release	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
1	I-Language
,	O
when	O
Federico	O
Mena	O
published	O
an	O
early	O
draft	O
roadmap	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
early	O
as	O
February	O
2000	O
,	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
Project	O
publicly	O
outlined	O
a	O
plan	O
to	O
have	O
an	O
SDK	B-Application
available	O
by	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
calendar	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
first	O
GUADEC	B-Application
which	O
took	O
place	O
the	O
following	O
month	O
,	O
a	O
non-authoritative	O
GNOME	O
2.0	O
steering	O
committee	O
was	O
formed	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
updated	O
timeline	O
was	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
February	O
13	O
,	O
2001	O
,	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Language
Foundation	I-Language
Board	O
of	O
Directors	O
met	O
for	O
a	O
special	O
meeting	O
and	O
discussed	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
agreed	O
that	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
should	O
be	O
based-on	O
GTK	B-Application
2	O
widget	B-Library
toolkit	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spearheaded	O
by	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
Human	O
Computer	O
Interaction	O
team	O
of	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
led	O
by	O
Calum	O
Benson	O
,	O
a	O
study	O
was	O
conducted	O
in	O
March	O
of	O
2001	O
,	O
to	O
survey	O
usability	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Application
1.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
,	O
Havoc	O
Pennington	O
,	O
then	O
published	O
an	O
essay	O
titled	O
"	O
Free	O
software	O
and	O
good	O
user	O
interfaces	O
"	O
,	O
which	O
advocated	O
for	O
improvement	O
in	O
user	O
interface	O
design	O
,	O
and	O
noted	O
efforts	O
in	O
the	O
upcoming	O
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
culminated	O
in	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
Usability	O
Project	O
,	O
which	O
handled	O
publishing	O
of	O
an	O
accompanying	O
set	O
of	O
human	B-Application
interface	I-Application
guidelines	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
GNOME	B-Language
2	I-Language
was	O
released	O
on	O
June	O
26	O
,	O
2002	O
at	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
Symposium	O
in	O
Ottawa	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
effectively	O
resulted	O
in	O
new	O
stable	O
GNOME	B-Application
versions	O
being	O
released	O
every	O
September	O
and	O
March	O
of	O
any	O
given	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
practice	O
is	O
still	O
continued	O
in	O
the	O
modern	O
GNOME	B-Application
release	O
cadence	O
.	O
</s>
