14 DAY TRIAL // The Fedora Project team has announced the beta release of its Linux operating system, Fedora 18, code-named Spherical Cow.
After numerous delays, Fedora 18 Beta has finally made it to the masses. This is very important for Red Hat Enterprise Linux as Fedora is the upstream version that implements all the future changes in RHEL.
“While not every alteration will make it from Fedora to the corresponding release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora’s role as a rapidly moving platform for future development allows it to provide important, community-driven updates”, states the announcement.
Fans and users of Fedora are encouraged to download and test Fedora 18 Beta and notify the development team of any problems or new features.
With the beta release, the software is relatively stable, but real-world use and reports from users help identify any lingering bugs, so that they can be addressed before it is more widely distributed.
Highlights of Fedora 18 Beta:
• In this beta version, the Gnome desktop has been updated to the latest stable version, 3.6, straight from the upstream development process; • KDE, XFCE and Sugar desktop environments have also received updates; • The MATE desktop is available for the first time in Fedora; • A new installer interface has been implemented, enhancing the anaconda installer and bringing improvements in ease of use and installation; • Several programming languages have received updates, such as Perl 5.16, Python 3.3, Rails 3.2, D, and Haskell. • The distribution now includes the final version of Samba 4 and can be used on an Active Directory domain out of the box; • OpenStack in Fedora 18 has been updated to Folsom, the most recent release by the OpenStack community; • Eucalyptus 3.1, another IaaS platform, is available in Fedora for the first time, and includes the major components of Eucalyptus; • Storage System Management CLI tools simplify the user interface by providing unified abstraction and interface for multiple storage technologies, including lvm, btrfs and md raid.
Download Fedora 18 Beta right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.