The open source desktop world got a boost this week with the release of GNOME 2.30 -- the latest incarnation of one of the leading open source desktop GUIs that's a part of nearly every major Linux distribution. With GNOME 2.30, the open source effort is adding new features that aim to make it easier to connect to online services, such as social networking giant Facebook. The new release also includes preview technology in the form of the GNOME Shell, which will become a standard component in GNOME 3, the next major release due in six months.