Icons are great!
The elementary project started with elementary icons on September 21, 2007. At the time, that was the entire scope of the project. The only other really great icon set out there for open desktops was Tango, and that just seemed not quite good enough. So, it started by trying to copy Mac OS’s icon set. And then it was redoing Mac OS’s icon set in the style of Crystal icons by Everaldo. And then it started to go a different direction. It was being being better than that. It was being better than Tango. And for a while, it was going pretty well. And then KDE4 came around the corner and brought with it the Appeal project. Then it all changed. Then elementary icons became the elementary project.
So now, what is the elementary project? It’s about bringing an amazing computing experience to everyone on the planet, for free. And, that’s something huge to say. What that means is building a desktop operating
system that not only tops other Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora, but creating something that can compete with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. And that means marketing this product, distributing the product, supporting the product, and doing it all for free. But, then there’s other implications to that statement as well. And, as the project grows, we’ll find out just how big it gets and how many people we can reach with such a limited budget.
Look at all that pretty!
Okay, so why should you care about the elementary project? Well, have you ever gotten a virus or not had the money to buy expensive software like Microsoft Office or been frustrated because your computer was going slow or even just wished it was a little nicer to look at? That’s why you should care. Because we’re fighting everyday frustrations that you have using your computer. We want to never get viruses either. We want the computer to start up in under 20 seconds. We want to not worry about managing our computer and just use it. And most of all, we really don’t want to have to pay for it. So, our interests are aligned. We’re not a company, we’re an organization. We care about building the best product and offering the best services out there to make things easy for you. We’re not blinded by profits, we’re not limited by shareholders or board members, we’re not afraid to take risks. And that means the absolute best computing experience for you and for us.