Next-Generation Open Source Technologies Now Available in Fedora Core 6

  
    
  
  
    
      The Fedora Project, a Red Hat (NASDAQ: RHAT) sponsored and 
      community-supported open source collaboration, today announced that the 
      latest version of the popular Fedora Core distribution, Fedora Core 6, 
      is available for download at http://fedoraproject.org. 
      The Fedora Project is host to the best of next-generation open source 
      technologies. An increased focus on the entire user experience has 
      yielded benefits on the desktop, in performance, for systems 
      administrators and developers, and across virtualization.
    
    
      Fedora Core 6 provides a noticeable performance increase during the 
      start-up of applications such as OpenOffice.org. In addition to the 
      previously supported x86, x86-64 and Power PC chip architectures, this 
      release features support for Intel-based Macs. Fedora Core 6 also 
      introduces a new GUI virtualization manager.
    
    
      The primary enhancement to the installer is the ability for a 
      network-accessible installation to access third-party RPM repositories, 
      such as Fedora Extras or a local repository, at install-time. The 
      impetus for this change is quite simple – 
      choice. Fedora installation is now more customizable than in previous 
      releases.
    
    
      "Releases of Fedora Core are always exciting events for the open source 
      community," said Robert 'Bob' Jensen of the formal Fedora Documentation 
      and the community's Unity projects. "The Fedora Project enables many 
      non-technical contributors and developers alike to have a hand in 
      collaborating on the next wave of important technologies in open source. 
      Fedora Core 6 comes from the many interesting formal and informal 
      projects that people like me are a part of."
    
    
      DESKTOP
    
    
      Fedora Core 6 continues to advance the desktop with improved font and 
      artwork, as well as the usability improvements that come from the latest 
      upstream releases of GNOME and KDE. Improvements to the desktop in 
      Fedora Core 6 include a new platform that enables GL-accelerated effects 
      on a standard desktop, better and faster software updating tools and the 
      latest upstream versions of favorite open source applications.
    
    
      The newly rewritten printer configuration tool has been extended with 
      many new features. Devices are now detected on-demand as necessary, and 
      support for per-user queues is available, so users can customize their 
      printer settings without having to modify system-wide configurations.
    
    
      Fedora's internationalization efforts benefit from additional language 
      support, as well as tools to switch input methods. Overall, essential 
      components of Fedora are now translated into more than 50 languages, 
      mainly by volunteer contributors.
    
    
      PERFORMANCE
    
    
      Enhancements in performance in Fedora Core 6 build upon established, 
      underlying systems. The start-up boost that applications such as 
      OpenOffice.org receive is gained from being rebuilt with DT_GNU_HASH. 
      This hash is optimized for speed and data cache accesses. Another area 
      of enhanced performance is in network file systems, including NFS.
    
    
      SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
    
    
      Fedora Core 6 brings new features and improvements in both underlying 
      and interactive parts of the administrator's experience. One major gain 
      is the ability to specify external repositories during installation 
      time. While it has long been possible to install from a local or 
      specific network location, Fedora Core 6 now allows for the selection of 
      third-party package repositories during installation. As this includes 
      the Fedora Extras repository, the separation between packages in Fedora 
      Core and Fedora Extras is lessened when it comes to installation 
      choices. These installation improvements, coupled with improvements in 
      package dependency and updating tools, make it easier to manage systems.
    
    
      New GUI management tools include a virtualization manager, an SELinux 
      troubleshooting tool and an improved LVM cluster management tool. Smart 
      card services are provided through the new CoolKey technology. Other 
      system improvements include support for IPv6 and a single 2.6.18-based 
      Linux kernel that automatically detects and configures for the number of 
      processors on a machine.
    
    
      THE FUTURE OF FEDORA
    
    
      The Fedora Project Board is actively planning the next release of Fedora 
      Core, and encourages anyone who is excited by open source software 
      development to join the effort at http://fedoraproject.org.
    
    
      About Red Hat, Inc.
    
    
      Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is 
      headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. 
      CIOs and other senior-level IT executives have ranked Red Hat as the 
      industry's most valued vendor for two consecutive years in the CIO 
      Insight Magazine Vendor Value study. Red Hat is leading Linux and open 
      source solutions into the mainstream by making high-quality, low-cost 
      technology accessible. Red Hat provides an operating system platform, 
      Red Hat Enterprise Linux, along with applications, management, and 
      middleware solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite. Red 
      Hat is accelerating the shift to service-oriented architectures and 
      enabling the next generation of web-enabled applications running on a 
      low-cost, secure open source platform. Red Hat also offers support, 
      training and consulting services to its customers worldwide and through 
      top-tier partnerships. Red Hat's open source strategy offers customers a 
      long term plan for building infrastructures that are based on and 
      leverage open source technologies with a focus on security and ease of 
      management. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com
    
    
      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 the integration 
      of acquisitions; the ability of the Company to effectively compete; 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; risks related to data and information 
      security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, 
      the Company's growth and international operations; adverse results in 
      litigation; the 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, 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 the press release.
    
    
      LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. 
      RED HAT and JBOSS are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. and its 
      subsidiaries in the US and other countries.
    
  
The Fedora Project, a Red Hat (NASDAQ: RHAT) sponsored and
community-supported open source collaboration, today announced that
the latest version of the popular Fedora Core distribution, Fedora
Core 6, is available for download at http://fedoraproject.org. The
Fedora Project is host to the best of next-generation open source
technologies. An increased focus on the entire user experience has
yielded benefits on the desktop, in performance, for systems
administrators and developers, and across virtualization.

   Fedora Core 6 provides a noticeable performance increase during
the start-up of applications such as OpenOffice.org. In addition to
the previously supported x86, x86-64 and Power PC chip architectures,
this release features support for Intel-based Macs. Fedora Core 6 also
introduces a new GUI virtualization manager.

   The primary enhancement to the installer is the ability for a
network-accessible installation to access third-party RPM
repositories, such as Fedora Extras or a local repository, at
install-time. The impetus for this change is quite simple - choice.
Fedora installation is now more customizable than in previous
releases.

   "Releases of Fedora Core are always exciting events for the open
source community," said Robert 'Bob' Jensen of the formal Fedora
Documentation and the community's Unity projects. "The Fedora Project
enables many non-technical contributors and developers alike to have a
hand in collaborating on the next wave of important technologies in
open source. Fedora Core 6 comes from the many interesting formal and
informal projects that people like me are a part of."

   DESKTOP

   Fedora Core 6 continues to advance the desktop with improved font
and artwork, as well as the usability improvements that come from the
latest upstream releases of GNOME and KDE. Improvements to the desktop
in Fedora Core 6 include a new platform that enables GL-accelerated
effects on a standard desktop, better and faster software updating
tools and the latest upstream versions of favorite open source
applications.

   The newly rewritten printer configuration tool has been extended
with many new features. Devices are now detected on-demand as
necessary, and support for per-user queues is available, so users can
customize their printer settings without having to modify system-wide
configurations.

   Fedora's internationalization efforts benefit from additional
language support, as well as tools to switch input methods. Overall,
essential components of Fedora are now translated into more than 50
languages, mainly by volunteer contributors.

   PERFORMANCE

   Enhancements in performance in Fedora Core 6 build upon
established, underlying systems. The start-up boost that applications
such as OpenOffice.org receive is gained from being rebuilt with
DT_GNU_HASH. This hash is optimized for speed and data cache accesses.
Another area of enhanced performance is in network file systems,
including NFS.

   SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

   Fedora Core 6 brings new features and improvements in both
underlying and interactive parts of the administrator's experience.
One major gain is the ability to specify external repositories during
installation time. While it has long been possible to install from a
local or specific network location, Fedora Core 6 now allows for the
selection of third-party package repositories during installation. As
this includes the Fedora Extras repository, the separation between
packages in Fedora Core and Fedora Extras is lessened when it comes to
installation choices. These installation improvements, coupled with
improvements in package dependency and updating tools, make it easier
to manage systems.

   New GUI management tools include a virtualization manager, an
SELinux troubleshooting tool and an improved LVM cluster management
tool. Smart card services are provided through the new CoolKey
technology. Other system improvements include support for IPv6 and a
single 2.6.18-based Linux kernel that automatically detects and
configures for the number of processors on a machine.

   THE FUTURE OF FEDORA

   The Fedora Project Board is actively planning the next release of
Fedora Core, and encourages anyone who is excited by open source
software development to join the effort at http://fedoraproject.org.

   About Red Hat, Inc.

   Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is
headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the
globe. CIOs and other senior-level IT executives have ranked Red Hat
as the industry's most valued vendor for two consecutive years in the
CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value study. Red Hat is leading Linux and
open source solutions into the mainstream by making high-quality,
low-cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides an operating system
platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, along with applications,
management, and middleware solutions, including JBoss Enterprise
Middleware Suite. Red Hat is accelerating the shift to
service-oriented architectures and enabling the next generation of
web-enabled applications running on a low-cost, secure open source
platform. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting
services to its customers worldwide and through top-tier partnerships.
Red Hat's open source strategy offers customers a long term plan for
building infrastructures that are based on and leverage open source
technologies with a focus on security and ease of management. Learn
more: http://www.redhat.com

   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 the integration
of acquisitions; the ability of the Company to effectively compete;
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; risks related to data
and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of,
and control over, the Company's growth and international operations;
adverse results in litigation; the 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, 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 the press release.

   LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT and JBOSS are
registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the US
and other countries.