I forgot to mention that six months after the previous release, as it was planned, Gnome 2.10 was released. This version includes new features (improvements in the performance of Nautilus, better drag&drop support, and other small changes), hundreds of bug fixes and full integration with a video player (Totem) and CD-ripping application (Sound Juicer).
A LiveCD is also available for those wanting to try the new version of Gnome, without having to build from sources or wait for the packages of the distributions.