GNOME 3

GNOME 3 is the third major release of the GNOMEdesktop environment. A major departure from technologies implemented by its predecessors, GNOME 3 introduced a dramatically different user interface. It was the first GNOME release to utilize a unified graphical shell known as GNOME Shell. It also introduced support for the Waylanddisplay protocol and added integration with other key technologies such as Flatpak during its development lifecycle.

While loose planning began as early as 2004, it was not officially announced until 2008, and received an initial release in 2011. It was superseded by GNOME 40 in 2021.