When Fedora 13, Goddard, is released on May 25 it’s not going to be your usual Fedora Linux release. In the past, Fedora has been seen as a great Linux distribution… for Linux experts. Paul W. Frields, the Fedora Project leader, told me though that this release is much new user-friendly and that it’s no longer just for experienced Linux users. Based on my early look at this Red Hat community Linux distribution, I agree.
You will be able to see it for yourself soon. After several delays, Frields has no doubt that this time the Fedora final will be available for download soon. Frields explained to me that the delays were because Fedora has adopted much more “detailed and fleshed out release criteria. In the past, we would release releases when it felt right. Now, we have criteria that make the process both more transparent to the community and provide strong release guidelines.”
The specific problem that put Fedora’s release schedule off its stride this time was a bug with an obscure way of installing Fedora. Frields said that that, in the event, the problem didn’t turn out to that bad. But, “So long as they were at it, there was a silver lining: the developers had time to fix more bugs. So, it was the delay, since we want to provide as strong a release as possible.”