Fedora Gets MATE and New Server

Fedora is jumping on the MATE bandwagon starting with at least version 18. A proposal to add MATE to the desktop choices in Fedora 18 was approved at the latest meeting of Fedora's Engineering Steering Committee. Dan Mashal, who proposed the addition, said it gives users freedom to choose.

Freedom is what it's all about after all, and is also "one of the core foundations of the Fedora project." But beyond that Mashal believes MATE can attract new users to Fedora, probably those not adapting well to the direction of GNOME 3 (and even KDE 4). He also states that many have expressed an interest in MATE "since Fedora 15 in which Fedora was switched from Gnome 2 to Gnome 3."

Right now the project is about 40% complete and the first major package, compiled from source, "works great and happily coexists with Gnome 3." It is scheduled for completion for the Fedora 18 release.

Another bit of good Fedora news is the announcement of a new project sponsor. This sponsor is providing a brand spanking new server located in Los Angeles.  Kevin Fenzi, Fedora Infrastructure Lead, said users of fedoraproject.org should have noticed a speed improvement. He went on to say some nice things about the sponsor, Colocation America, but basically, every bit helps.