OStatic

I've noticed, as I get older, time seems to go exponentially faster. Unfortunately, this meant high school lasted an eternity, and I'm burning through my thirties at warp speed. Some events make me more aware of this than others -- it seems like it was only last week that Fedora 10 made its first mark upon the world.

But no, another release cycle has nearly come full circle, and today the Fedora Project announced the Preview Release of Fedora 11 (codenamed Leonidas). This preview will be followed by a release candidate (scheduled for a May 12 appearance), with the final version hitting the streets on May 26.

So what new features can we expect to see in Fedora 11?

Even as a child, I knew that Pixie Sticks were just trouble. The paper tubes loaded with colorful yet mysteriously flavorless sugar weren't particularly tasty, and too many of them led to mom and dad either threatening to pull the car over or hinting ominously about what would happen if they had to tell me again. Parents today know that in addition to the traditional side effects, Pixie Sticks aren't terribly good for USB ports, either.

That's not the case with the other sort of Sugar. Sugar, the kid-friendly open source desktop that was featured first on the OLPC XO laptop is now available (in a beta release) as a liveUSB image. The Sugar on a Stick environment is powered by Fedora 11 and features familiar Sugar desktop applications and functions, as well as new educational and collaborative tools, such as the InfoSlicer online content editor, remixer, and delivery application.

Google adds all-important Java support to AppEngine. It's part of a major upgrade to AppEngine.

New Gmail interface for iPhone and Android. A mobile-browser optimized version of Gmail from Google for both phone platforms.

Zend targets Java with growing PHP community. Zend Server takes the Zend Framework's Java-bashing crusade a step further.

How to upgrade to Fedora 10 from an older version. Simple up-front steps make the process easier.

Dell: The top reseller of JBoss middleware? The VAR guy says Dell gets the nod.

Red Hat CEO sees open source as a 'model for government.' Jim Whitehurst also applauds the Obama administration's interest in it.