Beta of Fedora 18 is Here, Release Date Set

The Fedora project has finally set a date for the final release of Fedora 18, code-named "Spherical Cow," and delivered a beta version that makes clear that this distribution is now heavily focused on cloud computing. The final version of Fedora 18 is set for Jan. 8 of next year. Project leaders have said that delays in delivering the beta came about while trying to perfect Anaconda software used for installing and upgrading Fedora. Notably version 18 of Fedora includes both Eucalyptus 3.1 and the OpenStack Folsom cloud computing platforms.

As The Register notes:

"Back in May, with the launch of Fedora 17, the "Essex" release of the OpenStack cloud control freak was bundled with the operating system so developers could puff up their own infrastructure clouds...With Fedora 18, the OpenStack rolled up with the Linux distro is being upgraded to the "Folsom" release, which is the most significant and complete OpenStack yet, and probably the first release that mere mortals, rather than ninjas, could use to build an infrastructure cloud."

The Register added: "...arguably the most important aspects of the release are the inclusion of infrastructure cloud controller software and the promise of the integration of Red Hat's own platform cloud software."

As we noted just a few days ago, Red Hat is moving ahead with its OpenStack-centric cloud computing plans. The company has been steadily working on an enterprise-class version of the OpenStack platform. It will arrive in a fully supported version early next year, but you can already get a preview edition, based on the "Essex" OpenStack release. And now, Red Hat has announced the availability of its new OpenStack Technical Preview based on "Folsom." The Fedora Project is communit-supported and owned by Red Hat.

There are many updated applications in Fedora 18, including Gnome desktop version 3.6; Samba 4; Perl 5.16; Python 3.3; and Rails 3.2. Fedora has also packaged Owncloud which brings an alternative to proprietary solutions to backup and sync personal data.

You can find complete Release Notes for Fedora 18 online, and it's clear that this release will advance cloud computing flexibility in the distro significantly.