Virtual desktop, remote administration and cloud features
I put out a request for feedback on Twitter, and Dan, a Linux user, responded that he hadn’t tried Fedora 14 yet, “but after reading the article about virtualization and cloud stuff built into it, I want to try it.”

For virtual desktop users, the Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environment (SPICE) is included, bringing “thin client” computing to life. SPICE can be used to connect to remote or local QEMU virtual machine instances, and handles 2D graphics acceleration, audio, and video streaming. A 64-bit software environment is recommended for the host, but the client can be either x86 or x86-64. The inclusion of SPICE is a good preview of desktop virtualization capabilities coming in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2.

For those interested in test-driving the features of Fedora 14, it is available on Amazon’s EC2. Until now, the most recent version of Fedora on EC2 was version 8.

Remote administration is enhanced with Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) via ipmiutil. For servers containing hardware with IPMI support, remotely management and administration is made easier with ipmiutil’s capabilities, which include features like Serial-over-LAN and identity LED manipulation.

JPEG handling, system admin, and developer features
Fedora 14 also features libjpegturbo, which offers significant time-savings for users when working with jpeg files. The developers say that the library “practically halves processing time on most systems,” and even older hardware users will see a boost.

For system admins a tech preview of systemd, a replacement for a Upstart and System V init, is included.

For developers, the GNU debugger, GDB is included and has been made more efficient by automatically generating the indexes it needs in advance in the debuginfo packages. Python 2.7 is included with increased efficiency in modules, some of which are now feature complete with their Python 3.1 equivalents. For Perl devs, Rakudo Star, a Parrot virtual-machine-based implementation of Perl 6 is included. Also, the D programming language is available.

Fedora 14 ships with GNOME 2.32, a transitional GNOME release. KDE 4.5, released in August, is also available in Fedora 14 with a new notification system and preliminary support for tiling in the KWin window manager.

Ron McCarty, founder and Director of Professional Services at Your Net Guard, shared his interest in OpenSCAP and Varnish Web caching server support.

A complete list of the features included in Fedora 14 shows that I’ve only shared the highlights here. We’d like to hear what your favorite features are, please leave your comments below.

For a first-hand look into Fedora 14, you can read Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols review from ITworld, which gives a good idea of the release and reports some minor problems.

With the new 9.04 server edition, Canonical has worked to extend the range of enabled servers, with 45 of the most popular mid-range servers from IBM, Dell and Sun and HP tested in the Canonical labs.
Ubuntu 9.04 Server edition will preview Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC). Ubuntu is the first commercially-supported distribution to enable businesses to build cloud environments inside their firewalls. With Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition, organizations can explore the benefits of cloud computing without the data or security issues associated with moving data to an external cloud provider. Following a successful beta program, Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 will also be fully available on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO, Canonical shared some of the server improvements in Ubuntu 9.04 Server edition include substantial improvements in some key applications for mail and other common infrastructure requirements.

“There has been an extension of work around suspend and resume of servers,” said Shuttleworth. “Amazon’s EC2 elastic computing meme will penetrate deeply into the enterprise. And organizations will want that same elastic computing internally, along with the power saving capability. The best method is suspending or resuming. Through effective use of elastic computing, we think we can greatly improve the energy savings in the data center.”

Shuttleworth referred to the concept of cloud computing as “the new hotness,” and says that Canonical has chosen to give it a very specific focus in this release. An image of Ubuntu 9.04 is now on EC2, so anyone interested in prototyping on Ubuntu 9.04 can fire it up on EC2. Shuttleworth shared that Canonical has a firm commitment to continue to release updates in the cloud. A description of other Ubuntu virtualization efforts and a more detailed report on the current position of Ubuntu in the data center and enterprise IT environment was published on SearchDataCenter.com at the beginning of April.

Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition improves user experience
Mark Zimmerman, CTO, Canonical explained some of the new features in Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition include a reduction in start-up time from 45 seconds to 25 seconds. According to Zimmerman, the release also includes an improved notification subsystem, which is the first in a series of design-led improvements.

“We are really working on improving the intrinsic experience of using Ubuntu on the desktop,” explained Zimmerman. “The notification subsystem has a standardized way of displaying [notices], that adds to the polished feel of the desktop.”

In addition, the desktop version of Ubuntu 9.04 features OpenOffice.org 3.0. This release of OpenOffice includes a lot of compatibility between Microsoft Office suite products that can make the user experience more seamless and easy, and wasn’t available at the last Ubuntu Desktop Edition release.