New Features in GNOME 2.6
=========================

File Manager:
* improved ease of use for file and folder navigation with the new, spatial nautilus. [Would be good to get a blurb from the usability guys on why this is better. :)
* substantial performance improvements in opening file manager windows
* consolidated display of computer storage resources and networks (now centrally located in 'Computer' and 'Network')
* compliance with freedesktop.org mime-type standards and improved mime-type sniffing.
* improved support for SMB/CIFS, based on the newest versions of SAMBA resulting in faster and more reliable access to MS Windows network shares. Someone needs to check and see when this actually went in. ;)
* improved support for sftp for file transfer

Web Browser: 
* Marco must have this massive list of things he did here :)
* improved download manager to allow users to pause and resume file downloads
* improved layout and performance (switch from mozilla 1.4 to 1.6)
* ability to create plugins to modify browser behavior
* defaults to the most useful page on the web (google) as home page- again, we are focused on usability first
* new lockdown functionality, including a kiosk mode


Control Center: 
* integration and centralization of all keyboard control functionality including integrated support for international keyboards and multimedia keys
* new screen resolution settings tool to set resolution and refresh rate of monitors without requiring root access (I forget: was this in 2.4? I think maybe yes, actually.)
* new backgrounds capplet
* There must be more, ask Jody :)

Panel:
* Anything here?

Applets:
* Anything here?

Help Browser:
* 30x performance improvement vs. GNOME 2.4 (we should probably have a bronzed head of Shaun McCance on the front page ;)

Accessibility:
* gok (gnome onscreen keyboard), gnopernicus (automated focus tracking and fullscreen magnification ), gnome-speech all have improved
* dasher?

File Selector, other GTK+ stuff:
* new and improved file selector 
* "Add bookmarks" to frequently accessed locations
* easier for GNOME applications to customize "File Types" list
* improved devel platform (need more details, ask Owen or Federico?)

Games:
* like 1,000 changes here, ask Callum

Themes:
* ask Uraeus?

Quality:
* ask Luis to get stats on bugs closed during the devel cycle. Ask Luis late in the devel cycle, to make sure we get the most detail. :)

Misc:
* new modules
* Lots of little improvements to all the utilities- calculator, text editor, character picker, etc., etc.
* new authentication system for storing passwords- not sure there is enough UI to this to make it worth mentioning? Probably want to ask Alex.