Update: Slashdot is reporting that CentOS co-founder, Lance Davis has reappeared and that the domain, trademarks and artwork are now under the stewardship of the CentOS Project. Let's hope they file the proper legal forms ASAP.

For users or businesses that want to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but don't feel like ponying up the required subscription fee to get the binary, CentOS has been a great option. Essentially, CentOS take the source from RHEL (which is released to the community), repackages it and offers up the binary for free to anyone who wants it. Although RHEL isn't really my favorite server-based Linux distro, one of my web servers uses CentOS, and it's a pretty decent solution.

Yesterday, some of the developers and maintainers of the CentOS project posted an open letter to Lance Davis, the co-founder of the CentOS proect.

It reads, in part:

You seem to have crawled into a hole ... and this is not acceptable.

You have long promised a statement of CentOS project funds; to this date this has not appeared.

You hold sole control of the centos.org domain with no deputy; this is not proper.

You have, it seems, sole 'Founders' rights in the IRC channels with no deputy ; this is not proper.

(...)

Please do not kill CentOS through your fear of shared management of the project.

For quite some time, it appears, Davis has been absent from meetings, unresponsive to messages and requests and just generally unavailable to the other project developers. As one of the co-signers of the letter, Tim Verhoeven points out in his own blog entry, this is problematic because not only is the centos.org domain in Davis's sole control (and he has now secured it with an anonymizing service so the owner of the domain isn't visible), the accounts from the Google AdSense ads and the PayPal accounts where donors have contributed to the project are also completely in Davis's control.

That creates a problem because money individuals think is going to help the project is really just going to one person who is doing God-only-knows-what with it.

I've enjoyed using the preview releases on my MSI laptop (due in no small part to its ability to sleep and resume better than Ubuntu on my system), and at long last the big day is finally here. After being pushed back, Fedora 11 is now available to the public.

The new version ships with either Gnome 2.26.1 [torrent] or KDE 4.1.2 [torrent]. One of the biggest additions to Fedora 11 is OpenChange, which provides full MAPI connectivity to Microsoft Exchange servers. It's the first open source implementation of the MAPI protocol.

For a complete list of what's new, check out the release notes from Fedora - they're available in 40+ languages at Fedoraproject.com. The US-English overview is presented here and a list of changes for desktop users is right over here.

It's not a lab-quality demo, but you can see the Fedora 11 preview outrace Ubuntu 9.04 in the video above. It's a solid distro, and well worth downloading.

Fedora 9 beta is available for download today, with a final release scheduled for April 29. The latest version of the free (as in beer) cousin of Red Hat Linux comes with a number of major updates, including support for the latest versions of the KDE and GNOME desktop environments. Here are a few highlights:

• Uses the 2.6.25-rc5 Linux kernel
• GNOME 2.22 with world time clock, improved file system performance, and security improvements
• KDE 4.0.2 with a completely redesigned desktop manager look and feel, and integrated desktop search
• Firefox 3 Beta as the default web browser
  
• Support for resizing ext2, ext3, and NTFS partitions during installation

One of the more noticeable improvements will be the fact that Fedora includes a new free Flash plugin for Firefox out of the box, so you'll be able to watch YouTube within seconds of booting up your system. You can find a complete list of changes in the Fedora 9 beta release notes.

[via Flexbeta]

Since your computer is your newest appendage, it makes sense to learn all those keyboard shortcuts so you can save time, and also avoid repetitive stress syndrome (think carpel tunnel) which could really lead to down time from your favorite computer activities.

Shortcutguide.com is a nice all-in-one list of keyboard shortcuts for most popular applications such as Google (mail, docs, spreadsheets, video, maps, reader) , Firefox 2, Windows XP, Linux 9, Yahoo Mail, Opera 9, and Adobe Reader 7. Although some Apple apps are listed such as iDVD, iMovie HD 6, iTunes 7, and i photo 06, shortcuts for Mac OS X are not listed nor are they for Windows Vista.

Still, this is a nice all-in-one resource to help you navigate different applications without using your mouse. And you gotta love the nice keyboard interface that lets you hover over keys to see different shortcuts in the feature pane. Of course, in this instance you have to use your mouse, but it's all in the name of a future reward, so to speak.

Tell us your favorite keyboard shortcut guides you've found on the web, and we'll compile them into a new big grandaddy list.

Red Hat is releasing the latest version of its Fedora Linux software today, and along with new features for users, Fedora 8 is the first version of the Fedora software that's targeted at developers who want to create their own Fedora-based Linux distributions complete with a new logo. There are already plenty of Linux distros based on other popular platforms like Ubuntu, so it kind of makes sense that if you want to get your name out there, you open the door to developers who might strip your name from the finished product.

As an end user, here are some of the changes you're more likely to notice in Fedora 8:

• Improved printer support
• Bluetooth enhancements
• PulseAudio gives you more control over audio settings for different users and applications
• GNOME Online Desktop integration
• Better power management in the kernel
• Better support for suspend, resume, and monitor backlighting for laptops

And if that's not doing it for you, there's already a list of proposed features for Fedora 9.

[via Extra Tech]

We're officially getting to the point where it's harder to find a computer manufacturer that doesn't sell a consumer oriented Linux PC than to find one that does.

Of course, you still don't have a wide variety to choose from in the US, but Acer is selling a laptop loaded with Ubuntu in Singapore. And now HP plans to sell desktop systems with Red Hat 5 in Australia.

The HP dx2250 has a base price of $AU600, which is about $490 US dollars. The systems come with OpenOffice, Firefox, and Evolution preinstalled, which is pretty much all you need to make a Linux desktop useful for most computer users.

Now if we could just get HP to offer the system in the US. Sure, you could go ahead and install Red Hat, Ubuntu, or your Linux distribution of choice on almost any HP computer you might pick up. But it's nice to buy a system that you know has been tested for driver compatibility first.

Red Hat released Fedora 7 today, a new version of their Linux operating system developed in partnership with the open source community and Red Hat engineers. This is Fedora's first release to merge the Fedora Core and Fedora Extras package repositories under one set of packaging policies. Another first for Fedora 7 is all the software used is released under a free license, and all decision-making is made in public.

The big innovations touted for this release are:

• Revisor tool - a graphical appliation built on top of Fedora's other build tools that gives flexibility to build an ISO, a live CD, etc. Mike Spevack, Fedora's project leader, feels this is Fedora's crown jewel. Customized versions of Fedora are now possible to an extent that was not available previously.

• Live CD - first time for Fedora, (however not an industry shake-up here).

• Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology has been integrated with the Fedora graphical virtualization manager tool. KVM provides a full virtualization solution, and users have a choice between KVM and Xen, along with Qemu, in this release.

You can pick up a copy of this new version at the Fedora Project.
Thanks FF!

Symantec, usually no fan of Microsoft, recently released their 11th Internet Security Threat Report, in which they found, "Windows had the fewest number of patches and the shortest average patch development time of the five operating systems it monitored in the last six months of 2006."

It took Microsoft an average of 21 days to roll out a patches for 39 security holes in Windows (a more than 100% increase in vulnerabilities over the same period in 2006), beating #2 ranked Red Hat Linux which required an average of 58 days to fix 208 security issues. Of course, of those 208 holes in Red Hat, only 2 were high-severity and 76 were considered low-risk.

Apple, for it's part, needed an average of 66 days to fix 43 vulnerabilities. (I guess the Cupertino kids were busy working on that iPhone hotness).

As announced on Friday by David Eisenstein, the Fedora Legacy project is shutting down. As of his announcement (or maybe even earlier) Fedora Core 4 and earlier distributions are no longer being maintained or supported. He said that their current model of maintaining older distributions of Fedora Core are being examined, but right now everything is on (seemingly indefinite) hold. Jesse Keating later followed up and put it on record that the lack of contributors, and zero response to their call for help with the project, lead to the demise. I can't imagine anyone who would be absolutely dependent on Fedora Core 4, except maybe for older servers. If you're a dedicated Desktop Linux user, you're likely running Fedora Core 6, or another distribution like Ubuntu or SuSE.

The real question this leaves in my mind (an no doubtedly others) - is this just another case, in what has seemed like a recurring theme, of a concerted group of people being unable to provide support for Linux over the long term? Will Ubuntu LTS succeed where Fedora Legacy could not? With the rapid pace of Linux development, is long term support just a pipe dream, or a realistic goal?

[Via OSnews via CNet]

Reader Sergio wrote in to tell us that, hot on the heels of last just in time for this week's Ubuntu Edgy release, the final release of Fedora Core 6 is now available. There's lots of new stuff in the latest release of the Red Hat-sponsored, community-driven Linux distribution including an improved installation system, support for Intel-based Macs, improved Xen virtualization support and a new GUI virtualization manager, the Yum update system in place of Up2date, and major performance improvements. As always, the best way to get your hands on Fedora Core is via BitTorrent.

[Thanks, Sergio!]

The Linux Standards Base (LSB) has just launched their attempt at building an MSDN type developer site for Linux and open-source developers. The site is starting out with a bunch of content from O'Reilly and Pearson Technology Group to get started, but hopes developers will swoop in and take over in the forums and adding new content to the site. Several major companies on the Linux front lines have joined up including IBM, Intel, Red Hat, Novell, just to name a few. The site is produced and directed by The Free Standards Group (FSG) and is now in beta. Any Linux developers out there ever wish you had a version of the MSDN motherlode of programming knowledge (except for Linux and free) to help you out? This may be your ticket.

The answer is on Debian. The OS isn't happy with Mozilla's recent hardened stance on their trademark, and doesn't even want to use the Mozilla logos in their distributions. Debian plans to change the name of Firefox in their distros and think it will only take a week to complete. Mozilla doesn't want Firefox to be marketed inside Debian without the logo. It seems that the Debian folks don't like the idea of patches and updates going through Mozilla first. Red Hat and Novell are already doing it. So if you Linux buddies told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it? Well, Debian wouldn't, or so it looks right now. I'm taking bets on names, how about Fiber-fox, or Firbuntu? No? Fine, I give up. Any other clever names for what to actually call Firefox in its altered form from brilliant minds out there?

[Via Slashdot]

Wow, I am pretty blown away. Almost unanimously everyone said that Ubuntu is the best Linux distro for almost everything you would want to do. I am already a Ubuntu fan, and I thought there would be a huge list of distros because there are so many out there. Ubuntu is the distro I used at work to recover old PC data, and fix PCs when even windows was trashed. It is definitely a killer build and deserves all the recognition it gets. If anyone out there is wondering which Linux distro is good for your uses, this should be proof enough. Other distros that made the list, but were all soundly spanked by Ubuntu are:

• Slax
  
• Fedora Core
• Kubuntu
• SUSE
• Mepis
  
• Red Hat
• Knoppix
• Debian
• DSL (Damn Small Linux)
  
• Gentoo
• Linspire
• Xubuntu
• PCLinuxOS
• Mandriva/Mandrake
• openSUSE
• Puppy

Thanks to everyone for your comments and thoughts on your favorite Linux flavor. I will be awarding stars as soon as I can, but I believe that feature is down at the moment.

Social networking isn't exactly a sector I'd have expected Linux developer Red Hat to jump into (insert joke about geeks socializing here), but that's what they've done with Mugshot. Mugshot's stated purpose is "to create a live social experience around entertainment," and perhaps what's most notable about Mugshot is that it's open source, i.e. if you want you can download the source code to the Mugshot server and set up your own social networking site, and you can contribute code to the project as well. That's something you'll probably never see News Corp., Six Apart, or even AOL allow. Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow praises a demo of Mugshot he saw at the Red Hat Summit this week, saying, "it was pretty hot; they nicked the best stuff out of all the social networking sites and put them together in an open codebase."

Correction: Six Apart VP Anil Dash wrote in to remind us that LiveJournal, owned by Six Apart and one of the first social networking apps, is totally open source and has spawned many clones with millions of users, and that many of the web's most popular sites rely on its components (in particular memcached). Thanks, Anil!

This would appear to be a match made in heaven. Red Hat has announced it is buying JBoss. So what? Well considering JBoss is chock full of middleware apps in the open source universe, and Red Hat makes server and desktop Linux flavors for businesses and homes, this would appear to complete a circuit of sorts. In fact, Red Hat makes great pains in their press release to note how this will signal a shift towards more "service-oriented architectures (SOA), by enabling the next generation of web-enabled applications running on a low-cost, open source platform." Wait, what technology company in their right ming would want to promote web services? Oh yeah, all of them. In fact, this is a terrific boon for Red Hat. And how much is this costing them? Again, from the press release: "$350 million in initial consideration, plus approximately $70 million subject to the achievement of certain future performance metrics." It'll be interesting to see what develops out of this, because I can see a whole range of services provided by Red Hat as a result...