14 DAY TRIAL // GNOME Shell, a user interface that provides functions for the GNOME desktop environment, has just received a new update and is now at version 3.11.91 (or the much better name of 3.12 Beta 2).
The GNOME development is running smoothly and more features are added with each new build. A new development cycle has started, which will culminate with the release of a new stable version, 3.12.
The GNOME release schedule has been respected, so far, and the new version of GNOME Shell arrived just on time. If everything goes according to plan, we should get a new Release Candidate around March 19 and the final version should be released on March 26.
The GNOME Shell package is one of the first things that a user sees and it's probably the defining feature of the GNOME 3 desktop environment. It's understandable that developers pay close attention to GNOME Shell and that it usually receives a large number of features and fixes with each new version.
The GNOME developers provide a very good technical description of the Shell component. “The Shell acts as a compositing manager for the desktop, and displays both application windows and other objects in a Clutter scene graph. Much of the code of the shell is written in Javascript but uses Clutter and GNOME platform libraries via GObject Introspection and JavaScript bindings for GNOME.”
GNOME Shell might seem to be really close to the final release, with only a month to go, but quite a few fixes have been implemented. For example, two Bluetooth entries are no longer displayed, the styling of the lock and login screen has been improved, NetworkManager support is now optional, the middle-click now opens a new instance, the UI now scales on high-resolution displays, and the notification counter has been removed from the screen shield.
Also, timestamps in chat notifications are now displayed properly, a “VPN Settings” item has been added to VPN submenu, the tile previews are now animated, the network profile name is no longer used in the menu, and the date label from the Calendar can be clicked, returning the user to the current date.
A changelog featuring a complete list of updates and improvements can be found in the official announcement. Download GNOME Shell 3.12 Beta 2 right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.