From Fedora Project Wiki
gnome-shell
- gnome2 = good regular release cycle
- rewritten every component of gnome at least once
- people don't "see" things changing
- easier to make technological changes, but not user experience changes
- why JavaScript?
- not having class libraries is important to not step on GNOME class libraries
- sandboxing
- untied to heavier PyGTK apps
- attraction to JS developers
- side-stepped language fights
- good competition in JS engines (cf. python, ruby)
wayland
A shell for X servers, that can recursively run a Wayland instance as a server instead.
- Precise protocol for ensuring every frame is rendered correctly, cf. X.
- Specific design goal