The Fedora Project, a Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration, today announced that installations of the latest version of its distribution, Fedora 8, have reached beyond 54,000 since its availability on Nov. 8, 2007. Fedora 8 enhancements include the expanded ability for users to create custom spins or appliances, increased security features, a new look and feel and numerous technical advances.
First established in Fedora 7, the ability to create custom spins or appliances that allow users to create a combination of specific software to meet individual requirements has been expanded in Fedora 8. Fedora 8 marks the debut of three new spins: Games, Developer and Electronic Lab spins that offer prepared customization for users with a specific interest in gaming, development and electronics applications respectively. The new Fedora spins exemplify the easy customization of the Fedora Project's newest distribution and demonstrate the freedom, ability and desire of the community of developers to remix Fedora in the ways that are most useful to them.
"After these tools were introduced with Fedora 7, they were championed by the community, effectively making freedom a feature of the distribution," said Jack Aboutboul, community engineer for Fedora at Red Hat. "The customization allows for massive time savings that allows engineers and community contributors to focus less on how to build the distribution and more on driving innovation."
Fedora 8 offers both GNOME and KDE-based Live CDs and a general-purpose installable DVD for workstations and servers. It also includes improved Live USB support, making it possible to install, boot and run the entire distribution off of a USB key without touching the computer's hard disk at all. This enhancement makes Fedora attractive to those who wish to experiment with Linux without risking their data.
In addition, Fedora 8 incorporates a wide array of technical advances. This distribution becomes the first to enable PulseAudio, a sound server that acts as a proxy between all of a user's sound applications, by default. With PulseAudio, users can enjoy features such as different volumes for different applications, hot-plugging support for USB sound devices and support for audio over the network. Fedora 8 additionally includes improved graphical tools for firewall configuration, enhanced printer management and an update for Bluetooth integration. Network Manager, the easy-to-use wireless configuration tool written by Red Hat and adopted by many prominent Linux distributions, has also been updated.
As is customary with recent releases, Fedora 8 boasts an entirely new default look and feel on the desktop, all based on community artwork. The Fedora 8 theme of "infinity" includes a default background that changes shades, growing brighter or darker in accordance with the time of day.
"We're thrilled to see the great reception of Fedora 8 by the community of users," said Max Spevack, Fedora project leader at Red Hat. "As interest in Fedora continues to grow rapidly, Red Hat engineers and community volunteer developers will continue to deliver innovative advances with each new release."
For more information on Fedora 8, to download the distribution or to join in this community effort, please visit http://fedoraproject.org.
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- 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.
