Fedora In the News
In this section, we cover news from the trade press and elsewhere that is re-posted to the Fedora Marketing list[1].
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing
Contributing Writer: Pascal Calarco
7.5 Reasons to Look Forward to Fedora 15 (linux.com)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] a posting on anticipated features in Fedora 15:
"One of the reasons I watch Fedora closely is that it's a precursor for enterprise Linux. Not just Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), though that's certainly true. But advancements in Fedora usually make their way into other major distributions, and Fedora is often the first distro to ship cutting (sometimes bleeding) edge software. That's not to say that the other community distros never do this, but Fedora makes a habit of pushing the envelope.
Fedora 15 is no exception — it has quite a few major new features, as well as a few enhancements that will likely influence the entire Linux landscape in the near future"
The full article is available[2].
Fedora 16 will not be a Beefy Miracle (Internetnews.com)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] a report on the results of the Fedora 16 naming:
"I personally had thought that, Beefy Miracle would win, but that name only ended up with 1,662 votes. Beefy Miracle had been making a name for itself with an active Twitter feed that I have enjoyed following. There is also a project page supporting the campaign for Beefy Miracle. I've never seen so much effort and marketing going behind a potential name. It's a real shame that it didn't win."
The full article is available[2].
Fedora 16 Will Be Verne, Not A Beefy Miracle (phoronix.com)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] another posting about the naming contest results for Fedora 16:
"The Fedora 16 name voting has ended. One of the leading proposals for the Fedora 16 codename was to call it a Beefy Miracle, but that will not happen. The Fedora 15 successor will be called Verne.
There was quite a campaign by Beefy Miracle proponents to the point that there was even a BeefyMiracle.org web-site all campaigning for this Fedora name."
The full article is available[2].
No Beefy Miracle for Fedora (Network World)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] another despondent writer over the loss of 'Beefy Miracle':
"In a surprise upset, the Fedora Project has chosen "Verne" for Fedora 16's release name, beating out Beefy Miracle — despite strong support from former Fedora Project Leaders Paul Frields and Max Spevack.
Despite Spevack's promise to organize a weiner roast at Southeast LinuxFest 2011 and wear a hotdog hat, the vote came in with Verne ahead of Beefy Miracle by 542 votes. (Fedora uses range voting, rather than a simple majority voting system for release names.)"
The full post is available[2].
GNOME 3 set free (DesktopLinux.com)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] an article on Gnome 3 in upcoming distros, including Fedora 15:
"GNOME 3.0 is a fairly radical departure from previous GNOME versions, offering a stripped-down GNOME Shell interface that enables Linux users to "focus on tasks while minimizing distractions such as notifications, extra workspaces, and background windows," says the GNOME project.
Linux distros that have already placed GNOME 3.0 front and center include Fedora Linux 15, now available in an alpha version, while many more will follow suit in the months to come."
The full post is available[2].
First Firefox 6 build next week, Firefox 7 by May, and aurora channel introduced
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] an article detailing upcoming Mozilla Firefox development:
"Mozilla's Engineering Project Manager, Christian Legnitto, has detailed the release schedule for Firefox 5, 6 and 7. If all goes to plan, Firefox 6.0a1 will be released next week, April 12, and Firefox 7.0a1 in the middle of May. The final build of Firefox 5 should be released on June 21, exactly three months after the release of Firefox 4."
The full post is available[2].
Interview: Charles H. Schulz on LibreOffice and The Document Foundation
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] an interview with Charles H. Schulz:
"The tipping point is an interesting question: you’re the first one to ask it! Given that the Document Foundation is made of many people with a diverse background and history with OpenOffice.org, I would say that there were in fact several different tipping points depending of the persons. For me, the tipping point was reached when I stopped feeling that I had any sort of value in the eyes of the new steward. I felt I was somewhere an expense on a sheet, and given that I was contributing to that project for free, it made me think really fast about all this. I think there was hope for some time that Oracle would be a good steward."
The full interview is available[2].
New GNOME Cuts the Clutter (PC World)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] another review of GNOME 3:
"Five years in the making, the newly released version 3 of the GNOME Linux desktop interface has been radically redesigned.
The development team endeavored to develop a simpler interface for the shell, noted Jon McCann, one of GNOME Shell's designers, in a Thursday announcement.
Fedora will include GNOME 3 as the default interface for its upcoming Fedora 15 release, due in May. GNOME 3.0 is also available in downloadable trial versions that can be loaded onto a thumb drive."
The full article is available[2].
Yahoo: The Linux Company (ZDNet)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] an interesting article on Yahoo and its use of Linux:
"Today, at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, Sven Dummer, Director of Linux engineering at Yahoo!, explained that 75% of Yahoo’s Web sites and services run on Linux. The rest? It runs on FreeBSD.
"So what does Yahoo use? Well, Dummer explained, “Yahoo has its own Linux distribution, YLinux, targeted for out specific needs. It’s based on Red Hat’s Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Yes, that’s right Yahoo is another Red Hat customer helping Red Hat become a billion dollar company.
Yahoo does, however, support its own supporting software package system. That’s a relic, Dummer said, of its FreeBSD ancestry. This system is used to package up new software and patches for both RHEL and FreeBSD. At the same time, Yahoo does use the RPM Package Manager (RPM, yes it’s a recursive acronym) for a lot of its internal software deployment."
The full article is available[2].
Focusing on what's important, not sensational (ITWorld.com)
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] an opinion piece on GNOME 3 and negative press:
"What really cranks my brain is the clumsy and obvious attempts by some of us in the media to somehow use GNOME 3 as a way to re-kindle the desktop wars. It's GNOME vs. KDE all over again, they shout in text, when really, it's no such thing. Anyone who tell you otherwise is just trying to drum up headlines for their publication. KDE and GNOME are different, thank you very much, but they are not out to kill each other off."
The full article is available[2].
Quick look at Fedora-inspired Fusion Linux 14 - Mini Review
Rahul Sundaram forwarded[1] a short blog review of Fedora 14:
"Round-up: Fusion Linux is slightly buggy, but a good choice for home users who want everything out of the box and do not want the hassle of adding extra repositories to get codecs and then install them. If Windows gaming on Linux is your thing, this distribution could work for you. If you're not fussy about disk space and the mix of libraries thrown your way in Fusion, or you are already using Mint and are looking to move or just try out a Fedora base, this could also be interesting. And for advanced users, don't forget, you can customize the kickstart file from the start as it is available on their website. And it's an installable live medium and runs well from DVD too."
The full posting is available[2].