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Fedora Core 1 Released
EvilAlien writes "The Fedora Project has released Fedora Core 1, aka Yarrow. The release was expected on November 3rd, but was briefly delayed. The release notes has quite a bit of good detail, and is worth checking out for any preliminary questions you may have. Download options include BitTorrent in addition to the traditional collection of FTP mirrors."
I looked around the website and they don't really explain how important a priority stability is.
/directly/ used by RedHat, or is there a "polishing" step?
They do have a QA "project", but they also say they want to "Be on the leading edge of open source technology..."
I take it we're not talking OpenBSD/Debian-stable level of reliability. That's fine. But what's the goal? Will this stuff be
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You know, no one's forcing you to install any of what you listed.
Unless the Fedora installer has changed from what RedHat (free) used to have, you can pick and choose as little or as much as you want. Install just the core stuff and you won't even be asked for the 2nd and 3rd CDs.
Personally, I like it. Much easier than hunting around for online all day.
Oh, and last time I checked, many other distros are even larger (iirc, Debian was up to 5 CDs a while ago), so I don't see where the RedHat bashing comes from.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
My interpretation of their move is this:
1. They weren't making money on commercial RedHat releases. There are a few zealots like myself that run down to CompUSA (or whatever) to grab the latest release when it hits the shelves, but it was mostly to show our support for the company.
2. There is a lot of profit to be made in "support" in boxed product sales, and the enormous expense of Windows server licenses validate this proposition. They just need to be priced considerably below Windows support levels to compete.
3. Most desktop users want a bleeding-edge distribution so they can run the latest games and apps, and RedHat didn't want the tech support headaches and expense.
I think they just looked around at the playing field, saw that they could do little or nothing to prevent people from repackaging their product and selling it for a couple of bucks a CD, saw the numbers from their standard box sales versus the impressive revenue from comparatively few Enterprise Linux sales, and said "screw it, it's not worth our money to try to sell what everybody gets for free anyway".
Sad fact of life, that. Not enough freaks like me that like to buy the boxed set, I guess.
But I'm excited that Fedora is coming out with a release hot on the heels of the end-of-life announcements on RedHat boxed products. I think they'll find that the flexibility afforded them by a more open development model for their distribution, ala Mozilla.org, will help keep their server products competitive and "feed" the Advanced Server distribution with good ideas.
It remains to be seen how well it will take off, though... an awful lot of "mindshare" of hard-core Linux geeks is already invested in other distributions. As for me, I think they are doing it right, and although I'm certain they'll be off for 4-6 months of a rocky start, within a year they'll have a pretty solid volunteer contribution effort and a distribution that finally keeps up with cutting-edge features of other distributions. They've been behind the curve a long time (ugh "up2date" sucked vs. apt-get upgrade) on keeping their distro fresh; it is nice to see they've moved to a method that, perhaps, can keep it more current.
I wonder how they plan to handle RHCE's? I plan on taking the exam as soon as I finish reviewing for it, but I can't help but wonder if this move to Fedora on the desktop means that soon-to-be prospective RHCE's will no longer be able to just download the latest Redhat release and go, or if they'll need some special "student edition" of their Enterprise Linux product?
Matthew P. Barnson
I learn what I think when I read what I write
Can't anyone on /. read? RedHat has simply said that they are not chasing the CONSUMER desktop for the time being. If you read the articles and if you go to RedHat's site, you will see that they are still quite interested in *corporate and business* desktops, where the application base is more controlled and limited, and there generally is not the need to support every consumer USB widget under the sun. Their "Enterprise Linux" offerings have versions tailored for both servers *and* (corporate) desktops.
Additionally, for individuals and small companies who want to do their own support, there is still Fedora, but it will have a shorter support lifetime.