Ximian

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Ximian logo

Ximian was a company that provided open source desktop applications for Linux and Unix based on the GNOME platform. Ximian (previously called Helix Code, and before that International Gnome Support, although this name was apparently only used during the planning stage) was founded by Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman in October 1999, and was bought by Novell on August 4, 2003. Novell intends to continue and extend development of all Ximian's current projects using the Ximian name, whilst adding support for its own GroupWise and ZENworks software.

Ximian both developed new products and "polished" existing open source projects to provide more consistent operation. These projects are packaged into its Ximian Desktop product — a range of integrated open source applications intended to provide all the tools a typical business user might require. So-called "Ximianized" versions of GNOME, OpenOffice.org, and Gaim exist, along with the following completely new products:

Ximian was a founding member of the Desktop Linux Consortium and drives the development of Mono, a free software Microsoft .NET implementation.

In addition to Ximian's founders, Novell now employs many open source luminaries, including Dave Camp, Robert Love, Federico Mena, and Joe Shaw.