MATE is a desktop environment for Linux. It is based on an older version of the desktop environment GNOME, called GNOME 2. Many people in the Linux community did not like the way GNOME 3 (or GNOME Shell) looked, and wanted GNOME 2. This called for someone to fork from part of an existing program) of GNOME based on GNOME 2. An Arch Linux user created MATE, it is named after a South American plant called Yerba Mate and the tea made from the plant, "mate."