Stories about: Fedora

Moblin is an Intel-created open-source operating system for netbooks and, specifically, the kind of people who use them.

Moblin, short for mobile Linux, is a free open-source operating system originally developed by Intel for its low-power Atom processor and designed to run on devices, including netbooks.

The Fedora Project on Tuesday released version 11 of its Linux open source operating system, adding expanded hardware support, new software management and improved virtualization.

Lines are beginning to blur between the open source and commercial versions of the Sun Microsystems Solaris Unix operating system.

There was a time when Firefox was the Web browser for the cool kids who knew their tech. Most would still agree that it's better than Internet Explorer, but that's damning it with faint praise. Over the last year or so, Firefox has become better known in tech savvy circles for its relatively poor performance and mediocre memory management. Chrome's insane speed and Internet Explorer 8's overall improvement have also dinged Firefox's reputation. But now, Firefox 3.5 is almost ready to go. Does it have what it takes?

Like a fervent preacher appearing before his flock, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin emphasized benefits and potential for the Linux platform Thursday during an industry conference that also featured an update on mobile Linux efforts.

When big companies release new software, they launch it with lots of hoopla: press tours, technical conferences, free T-shirts. Open-source projects, even the well-known ones, generally release their major new versions with a lot less fanfare. The FOSS (free and open-source software) community is often too busy coding and testing to bother with marketing, even when the new "point release" of the software is really remarkable.

The Fedora Project released a beta of the next version of its free Linux OS with new security, desktop and developer features that provide a glimpse of the direction Red Hat could take with its enterprise Linux distribution.

Last month, in "Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows," I wrote about what life was like for a longtime Windows user trying to live with Linux. One of the main drawbacks: The difficulties I encountered when installing or updating software.

Linus Torvalds is a regular visitor to Australia in January. He comes out for some sunshine and to attend the annual linux.conf.au organised by Linux Australia. He took some time out to speak to Rodney Gedda about a host of topics including point releases, filesystems, what it is like switching to GNOME, and puts Windows 7 in perspective.