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  • New desktop applications, advances in security and Xen virtualization...

New desktop applications, advances in security and Xen virtualization demonstrate the rapid rate of innovation delivered by open source collaboration

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The Fedora Project, a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration, today announced that the latest version of the popular Fedora Core Linux distribution, Fedora Core 5, is now available. Fedora Core 5 features the best in leading edge technologies, including new desktop applications, advances in security and Xen virtualization. "Fedora Core 5 is the first distribution I feel truly involved and excited by," said Thomas Chung, Fedora Community Ambassador. "I'm sure I share this feeling with many Fedora contributors who have witnessed the birth from the very beginning. I can almost feel what a expecting father will experience with his first child. Fedora Core 5 is truly a great accomplishment in technology." Desktop Applications Improvements to popular applications and a wide variety of new applications and desktop tools make Fedora Core 5 exceptionally flexible and user-friendly. Enhancements include: * Tomboy, an easy-to-use and efficient note-taking tool, is already changing the way that Fedora users and developers work. * F-Spot to make managing digital photographs easier than ever. * Accelerated Indirect GLX (AIGLX) support. Developed in partnership with the upstream Xorg community, AIGLX provides the foundation for GLX-accelerated effects on a standard desktop. While this can mean eye-catching effects, it also provides a platform for creating a high-performance, efficient, and visually elevated desktop. * Power management has been improved with GNOME Power Manager, included in this release. The GNOME screensaver package is included, with a new Fedora screensaver to accompany it. * Ongoing integration, testing, and development ensures that laptop 'suspend and hibernation' features work with a greatly increased number of hardware combinations. * Support for the widely-used Broadcom 43xx wireless chipsets in the Fedora Core 5 kernel, which is based on the 2.6.16 kernel release. This feature will be of particular interest to users of Apple hardware. * Advances in multimedia applications built around the free Xiph.org codecs. * The latest Firefox 1.5 web browser offers improvements in speed, stability, security, and accessibility. * The most recent version of OpenOffice.org 2.0.2 introduces OpenDocument support, a new enhanced database frontend, a mail merge wizard, and better PDF export capability. * New releases of both GNOME 2.14 and KDE 3.5 bring a many new features and improvements to the Fedora desktop. Security The release of Fedora Core 5 includes several interesting and exciting new security features. These enhancements make Fedora Core 5 one of the most secure general-use operating systems available. The security enhancements include: * The introduction of a stack protector to GCC 4.1 makes it harder than ever for hackers to exploit buffer overflows, one of the most common security vulnerabilities. * Fedora has adopted a new standardized reference policy for the SELinux security framework. This supports multiple binary modules, allowing SELinux policies to be incorporated into individual packages. Application providers can use this feature to ship site-specific policy customizations. * Fedora Core also supports the Multi-Category Security (MCS) SELinux policy by default, in addition to Type Enforcement (TE), Muti Level Security (MLS), and Role Base Access Control (RBAC) security policies. * Linux Unified Key Support (LUKS) provides hard disk encryption support in Fedora Core 5. Hard disk encryption provides one of the best physical security solutions available. Virtualization Xen, the leading open source virtualization project, is included in Fedora Core 5. This version of Xen is based on the latest Xen 3.0 development branch, with support for both 32-bit and 64-bit x86 hardware. A Xen guest install script, created by Fedora developers, allows users to set up virtual machines quickly and easily. Xen's advances in Fedora Core 5 represent a critical next step in the development of commercial-strength virtualization on Linux. The Future of Fedora Fedora contributors are already working toward the next release of the Fedora Core, which will feature continued advancements in Xen, and new integration work from the Fedora Rendering and One Laptop Per Child projects. Stateless Linux work is also progressing steadily. Further, work is underway to support Fedora Extras and other custom software repositories during installation. Continuous, community-based development on new releases of Fedora Core will ensure that it remains the best and most robust, freely available open source software. To see details of the Fedora roadmap, please visit: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/RoadMap For more information on Fedora Core, to download or to join this community effort, please visit: http://fedoraproject.org. Members of the Fedora Community will also be holding the 3rd US Fedora Conference, FUDCon, April 7 in Boston. For more information please visit http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon/FUDConBoston2006. About the Fedora Project The Fedora Project is sponsored by Red Hat and is a collaborative effort between Red Hat and the open source community. Built exclusively from the latest open source technology, the Fedora operating system is community supported and freely available. The Fedora Project is not a supported product of Red Hat, Inc. For more information, please visit http://fedora.redhat.com. Forward-Looking Statements Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the factors discussed in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC (a copy of which may be accessed through the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov), reliance upon strategic relationships, management of growth, the possibility of undetected software errors, the risks of economic downturns generally, and in Red Hat's industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures and the viability of the Internet. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.
  • About Red Hat

  • Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As the connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at http://www.redhat.com.



  • Forward-Looking Statements

  • Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to delays or reductions in information technology spending; the effects of industry consolidation; the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company’s growth and international operations; fluctuations in exchange rates; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.