The "What is GNOME?" Answer

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

So,

We need a refresh to our standard "What is GNOME?" answer and elevator
pitch. Previously, on the website and in press releases, we have used:

  "The GNOME Project is an effort to create a complete, free and
  easy-to-use desktop environment for users, as well as a powerful
  application development framework for software developers."

Unfortunately, the phrase "is an effort" is really lame, and doesn't stress
the successful status of the project. Otherwise, it's pretty clear. For some
reason, it was not kept for the current /about/ page, so here's what we have
up there now:

  "The GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME  desktop environment, an
  intuitive and attractive desktop for end-users, users, and the GNOME
  development platform, an extensive framework for building applications
  that integrate into the  rest of the desktop."

This is a bit longer, and slightly less cohesive. On the front page, we have
yet another new answer:

  "GNOME is a Unix and Linux desktop suite and development platform."

What we need is a quick answer to "What is GNOME?" that we can give to
pretty much anyone who asks. Thus, it needs to be fairly broad and
non-technical. It needs to pass the parent test, and the "random business
person" test. It should be the first thing people hear when they ask "What
is GNOME?", whether they ask one of our hackers, one of our distributors, or
read our website (or brochures and things like that).

Having this is the first step to having a good elevator pitch, and we can
work on that next! :-)

- Jeff

-- 
GVADEC 2004: Kristiansand, Norway                    http://2004.guadec.org/
 
   "When there's public debate and mass hysteria, that's when the patches
                         roll in." - Michael Meeks