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Matthew Miller, Fedora Project Leader, Sheds Light on Future of Fedora (GNU/Linux for Desktops/Laptops for the Most Part) Under IBM

Personal view on Fedora (might not represent the views of other site contributors)

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YouTube link



Summary: IBM should divert the funds it allocated to lobbying for software patents to an actual good cause, such as GNU/Linux promotion (not just at the back end)

I'VE USED Fedora since its first version (I had also used it as Red Hat before FC) and the last version I used on a production machine (at my office) was 14. I basically more or less gave up on it just over a decade back, having encountered some issues mostly with package management (conflicts). I tried introducing my brother to it. He tried it for a while, but he did not stick with it at the end.



Fedora is used routinely by several regulars in our IRC community. They post screenshots of the site from Fedora and they experiment with new releases. Fedora is good for geeks and it is cutting-edge -- sometimes to the extreme -- no doubt!

Fedora is mostly used as a desktop platform; it can act as a server platform too, but for that functionality there are many reasons to use CentOS (or RHEL) instead.

"...unless IBM invests many millions if not billions of dollars in it -- promotion/marketing included -- the project is unlikely to just thrive on its own."I've long been worried that -- seeing the offloading of ThinkPad to Lenovo -- IBM would express no desire or interest in GNU/Linux as a desktop operating system (when I say "desktop" I mean laptop as well).

IBM has not convinced me otherwise; earlier today Red Hat's official site promoted Microsoft yet again [1] (it happens every week, sometimes multiple times per day!) and there's news about Fedora [2,4], based on a mailing list message from Matthew Miller [3], who speaks of "a GetFedora.org redesign to better showcase the current and future versions of Fedora to better expose them to new users." According to him, it will be mostly about "spins" and "editions/flavors" (including for devices that aren't desktops).

Reading between the lines for a bit, and taking a tacit new rant [5] into account (we have had more lately in our Daily Links), I get the impression that quality control is being compromised for speed. IBM's true dedication or commitment to the project hasn't been clear (since 2018) and Planet Fedora is getting a lot quieter over time; this can possibly be interpreted as decline in community participation if not resources allocated by Red Hat/IBM.

What is the future of Fedora? Hopefully something quite bright, but unless IBM invests many millions if not billions of dollars in it -- promotion/marketing included -- the project is unlikely to just thrive on its own.

Come on, IBM. Show us you love GNU/Linux. How old is that "Prodigy" boy today (commercial shown at the top)? Go find him and help spread the word about Free software. The community would thank you.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Performance of RHEL for Databases on Microsoft Azure Cloud

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 (RHEL 8) is a release that brings forth optimizations in the kernel. The RHEL 8 kernel reduces system-call related overhead which improves I/O performance for both the filesystem and network subsystems.

    The SCSI multi-queue I/O elevator enables Microsoft SQLserver OLTP workloads to improve by a factor of two, when compared to the single-queue I/O elevator shipped in RHEL 7. Changes to XFS filesystem journaling has enabled improvements of up to 10% in RHEL 8 as well.



  2. Fedora Project Leader Envisions The Project Becoming An "Operating System Factory"

    Fedora Project Leader Matthew Miller has shared his vision for Fedora over the next decade and is encouraging discussions about the direction of this Red Hat sponsored Linux distribution over the next five to ten years.

    The FPL sees a route to Fedora becoming an "operating system factory" built off the successes of the various Fedora Editions. With the growing editions/flavors of Fedora from Fedora Silverblue to IoT and others, Matthew Miller is hoping for a GetFedora.org redesign to better showcase the current and future versions of Fedora to better expose them to new users. Additionally, he would like to promote the Fedora tooling to users for those wanting to create new spins.



  3. Let's talk about Fedora in the '20s!

    Hi everyone! Since it's a new year and a new decade [*], it seems like a good time to look forward and talk about what we want the Fedora Project to be in the next five and even ten years. How do we take the awesome foundation we have now and build and grow and make something that continues to thrive and be useful, valuable, and fun?

  4. Fedora QA No Longer Needs To Test Physical CD/DVD Media As Part Of Their Formal Release Process

    This morning's Fedora Engineering and Steering Committee (FESCo) meeting approved more changes for this spring's release of Fedora 32.

    The main matter debated at the FESCo meeting today was whether CD/DVD physical media install issues should be considered blocker bugs. Basically it's a matter of whether Fedora CD/DVD issues should hold up releases in acknowledging a far majority of users these days use the install media via USB flash drives and the like, no longer resorting to burning DVD images.



  5. Fedora 31 : Can be better? part 004.

    The common question of any Fedora Linux user: Can be better?. Yes, we can fix some common errors...



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