[url]http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/news/cinnamon-2-0-in-linux-mint-16-no-gnome-back-end[/url]
In an interview for an upcoming issue of Linux User & Developer, Linux Mint developer Clement Lefebvre, aka Clem, revealed some of the plans for the future of Linux Mint and Cinnamon – most importantly, how recent developments have caused the team to finally move to making the code base independent of GNOME:
Clement Lefebvre (CL): Cinnamon 1.8 reached completeness on all visible aspects. In other words, even though the back end is still GNOME, what you see in Mint 15 is a complete Cinnamon front end, whereas in Mint 14 you could see parts of GNOME and Cinnamon tried its best to integrate with that. I think that’s a big reason for Mint 15′s success, people’s perception of it is different I think.
In 2.0 they won’t see the difference and although the back end is hugely important it will be much harder to ‘sell’.
Basically, in [Cinnamon] 2.0 you won’t be running GNOME at all
Linux User & Developer: So will [Cinnamon] 2.0 be in [Linux] Mint 16?
CL: This is both something we want and something we have to do. Yes.
Linux Mint 17 and Cinnamon 2.1 won’t have the same problem though, which should come just in time for the next big LTS release, Ubuntu 14.04.
Linux User & Developer: This means you’ll be ready for the LTS release?
CL: Yes, because relying on our own technology is a huge asset for innovation, Not only does it push the boundaries of what isn’t possible further, but things we don’t want changed, don’t change and we’re not catching up with things and fixing regressions.”