GNOME 3.4 available!

Gnome 3.4 has been released and comes loaded with new arrivals. Since its last major release (version 3.2) more than 41.000 changes have been made. Many bug fixes have been minor but this version brings some visual characteristics y functional quite interesting.

With GNOME 3 there was a great change that has been very well received by many users, giving the desktop a more modern look, more visual and in line with what many users demand today. Now, GNOME releases its new version 3.4 that includes a more polished visual aspect.

New arrivals

Application Documents It has been redesigned.

Epiphany, the GNOME web browser, has been renamed to Web. You now have a nice interface for version 3.4, including a redesigned toolbar and a "super menu". Several performance improvements have also been made, including a faster browsing history.

The Empathy chat app has also been improved. Featuring a new voice and video call interface fully integrated with GNOME 3, making it easy to quickly respond to video calls as you receive them. But it also gets better with new support for Windows Live messaging and Facebook chat.

The contacts app has also received important updates. The main content of the contact list has been improved, as well as the contact details. Contacts includes a number of new features, including online linking suggestions and a new avatar picker.

Another tool that has been updated is Passwords and Keys. Its user interface has been redesigned to be more refined and elegant.

Improved hardware support

Several of the small improvements that are included in this version have to do with support and hardware integration, making GNOME 3 work with more hardware devices, providing a smoother experience.

• Improved color calibration, which will now remember for which specific device a color profile is.
• Improved handling of docking stations and external monitors, so now a notebook will continue to run (and will not suspend) when connected to an external monitor, even if the lid is closed.
• Support for volume keys on USB speakers and headphones.
• New support for multi-user configurations, such as pluggable multi-user USB devices.

Many other app enhancements

There are many other improvements to our applications contained in this version. In addition to the usual bug fix work, there are visible improvements and new features. These are some of them:

• The Nautilus file manager includes an undo function, allowing you to revert a change you make. Ideal for correcting mistakes.
• The Sound Juicer CD ripper has a new feature to get metadata that provides improved support for multi-disc albums.
• The gedit text editor already has native support for Mac OS X and GNOME.
• The Cheese webcam photo booth now uses WebM as the default video format (instead of Theora).
• The games have been modernized. Status bars have been removed, application menus have been added, and more.
•  System Monitor now supports group control.
•  The Image Viewer (generally called "Eye of GNOME") has a new metadata sidebar. This makes it easier to browse images and view their properties at the same time.
• Evolution can now be used to connect to Kolab Groupware servers. Multiple Kolab accounts can be used at the same time. Disconnected mode, extended free / busy lists, and sync conflict detection and resolution are also fully supported.
• Evolution's account setup wizard will automatically detect the most common email providers, simplifying the setup of your email account. As an added value, it also allows you to reorder your email accounts in the sidebar.

In general, the feeling that remains is that they have greatly polished the general operation, the appearance and that now using GNOME with this new version is more comfortable for the user. We can download it to test it in the live version or test it in the different distributions that include this desktop.

For more information, I suggest reading the release notes GNOME 3.4 (in Spanish).