The project started due to free software licensing problems with the underlying toolkit? (QT?) for KDE (a slightly older, comparable desktop environment) during KDE's early history. After the licensing issues had been resolved, the GNOME desktop still proved to have many merits of its own (such as compatibility with more programming languages and software licenses), and many users of GNU/Linux systems favor the GNOME desktop.
Popular applications that run natively under the GNOME desktop include GIMP, Nautilus?, Gnumeric?, Abiword?, GnuCash, Evolution? and Gabber?.
GNOME is an official graphical user interface of the GNU system; GNUstep? is another.