Yeah, I know! Don't read it then. Its mainly for Solace to read and comment on. This one made the front page of Slashdot:

Fedora 8: An Assault On Ubuntu
http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=8094
(Preview) - Lately, I have been looking into other distributions that, like Ubuntu, are working to make strides to attract new users. I still have Debian Etch burned to a CD, waiting for a test in our lab. Next up is going to be Fedora. In the past, I have never been too impressed with RPM-based distributions, but to be fair, most of this came from nightmare scenarios with Mandriva and SuSE. And the last time I really took Fedora for a solid run was with Fedora 5, so it has been a while since I tested the Red Hat supported distro.

But I can only take so much of Debian's minimalist approach when it comes to describing features and why I should care to use the distro. After looking into what Fedora has done , I think it is clear which distribution is really working hard to attract new users.

Could Fedora Outperform Ubuntu for Casual Users? With the upcoming release of Fedora 8 (at the time of press time), I see solid indications that Fedora could dethrown Ubuntu with its latest release. I especially like what I'm reading about their work on issues, such as notebook suspend/resume working, power consumption and perhaps most of all, PulseAudio . This rationale really struck me, and while a user could potentially install this into Ubuntu Gutsy, props to the Fedora guys for just getting in there. After reading this thread and how one Ubuntu user even saw significant improvement using PulseAudio, I found myself becoming intrigued further. From what I can gather, it is still under heavy development, but having better control over your sound device is just what popular Linux distros need right now.

Then we have the CodecBuddy, Fedora's approach to dealing with restricted codecs. What I found most refreshing was educating the user in the immediate space rather than merely telling them they might be breaking the law and then providing a link to another page. Very cool. And of course, this page just made my day because the person who wrote it did so by speaking plain English, instead of boring us with maybes and possibilities regarding legalities. Providing me as a user with a clear reason why I should be using open formats was really quite refreshing.

Restricted Codecs Mess in Linux

Fedora Spins. I love this idea - a Fedora release for gamers, developers and those who are interested in working with electronics outside of just computing. If there is one thing that is becoming obvious to me, it is Fedora's attack on Ubuntu.

Then we have their new theme. OK, let's be honest, I'm getting pretty tired of the same old Ubuntu theme over and over. Yes, it takes just a minute to change it, but when trying to attract new users, it helps to have something attractive to look at. And I must admit, Fedora's Nodoka is definitely a clean look without being totally boring. Sweeet!

Not Interested Fedora in the Past, Could This Be Changing in the Future? I was never that swept up with past releases of Fedora. There was nothing compelling about it. But for the first time, I cannot help but feel that the Fedora team has been spoon fed an extra helping of Wheaties , which has put them into overdrive with their accessibility efforts.

In the coming weeks, I will be looking to do an all out review of Fedora 8. From what I have seen thus far, I'm definitely interested in seeing what they have in store and if they can catch up with PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu and other distros that have bent to the needs of the growing beginner-friendly userbase.

Original Slashdot article

I'm going to install this first chance I get. I have a FC7 VM image I haven't messed with so I'll just delete it and start fresh on FC8. You gonna upgrade? Weren't you running FC5 or something?

Hey Silver. I run Fedora Core 5 at home on my Linux box. To be honest, since I've been working at a company who is focused solely on Windows (at least for the timebeing) I've spent less time using Linux than in the past. I use my Fedora box mostly for development and source control of stuff I play around with at home. I have not used Ubuntu yet, although I was debating whether to install it at work or to install Fedora Core 8. I've stuck with Fedora/Red Hat for a long time. The last time I had my own system with a different Linux distro was in about 2000 when I was tried a few distrubtions such as SuSe and Slackware, both of which I felt were subpar to Red Hat at the time.

That being said, I love the glimmer of hope that Linux distros are finally making better efforts to target non-expert end users. I think that's been the major reason why Linux hasn't become more widely used, so I definitely like the concept, if that is what happening. That being said, despite the points made in this article, I believe Ubuntu either has these things or will have them soon. The article is also not acknowledging the advances that Ubuntu will have in the next version.

As for the idea that this is a threat to Ubuntu, I have to disagree. Linux distros in general working their way towards better usability so that the general perception changes would be a great thing for many of the top distros, so it should help Ubuntu, as well. "Competition" in this respect will ultimately be a great thing for the end user.

At any rate, I'm probably going to stick with Fedora Core 5 on my Linux box for now, but I am still undecided whether to use FC8 or Ubuntu at work.

I'm now running Ubuntu 7.10 desktop edition at work now, on a spare "test" computer I had lying around. I have to say that Ubuntu is pretty cool. The one annoying thing was out of the box, it's missing a lot of tools, so you have to download them via their package manager. Not the worst thing in the world. Past that, I'm pretty impressed with Ubuntu. They are making a real attempt to market this to non-expert users, which is great. I have yet to try Fedora Core 8, but when I update my FC5 system at home (eventually), I will compare them.

[Edited by - Solace on Mar 18 2008 4:13 PM]

Posted by Silverfuel:

Yea, Gusty Gibbon is definitely a good OS but I don't like Gnome and Kubuntu for some reason bothers me with its bs windows like theme. This is strictly a user experience issue and not anythign else. I know ubuntu has all the bells and whistles but....

The fc7 KDE manager is so much better in finding stuff. Xubuntu (xfce xwindows) is the best. I'm currently running FC7 + XFCE and love it. That still doesn't come close to my media PC. Its a 700Mhz Celeron P2 with 196mb RAM running FC2 + xfce! That box is a master piece. Its the first computer I bought with my money in 97 and has gone through a lot with me.

What is your FC5 box running on?

I'm running the FC5 box on a P4 2.4 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, with an ATI 128 MB video card. Half the time I think it runs better than my Intel Core 2 Quad machine with XP.

I still find it hilarious that I can run Linux on hardware 3-5 years older and get the same performance as a top of the line PC with Windows on it.