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July 24, 2008 9:07 AM PDT

Ring. Ring. It's Fedora calling

by Matt Asay

Red Hat's Fedora Project has announced several cool things this week. The first was Intel's defection from Ubuntu to use Fedora in its Moblin (Mobile Linux Internet Project). Intel's Dirk Hohndel billed it as driven by the project's preference for Fedora's RPM-based packaging system, but it's still significant, given Ubuntu's momentum in mobile.

But the most interesting Fedora announcement may well have had nothing to do with its code, and everything to do with the process that creates that code. I'm referring to Fedora Talk, a voice-over-IP system that "allows Fedora contributors to use any standard VoIP hardware or software to sign into the Fedora system and make and receive calls to other Fedora contributors."

OStatic highlights some reasons that this is important, and why Fedora couldn't simply use Skype. It's an intriguing way for the Fedora community to tighten the development process by bringing developers together. IM, mailing lists, and e-mail are great, but talking with someone is sometimes the best way to make things happen.

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay.
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About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

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