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GNOME is a graphical environment for the Linux operating system. "GNOME stands for GNU Network Object Model Environment. The GNOME project intends to build a complete, user-friendly desktop based entirely on free software. GNOME is part of the GNU project, and it is free software compliant with the OpenSource(tm) definition. The desktop will consist of small utilities and larger applications which share a consistent look and feel. GNOME uses GTK+ as the GUI toolkit for all GNOME-compliant applications." www.gnome.org
Applets are mini programs that are "docked" into the GNOME panel. Sort of like a mini looking application.
Nautilus (previously known as Eazel) is a graphical shell and file manager.