Underexposed

Red Hat on Tuesday released the ninth incarnation of its enthusiast version of Linux, making a move that rival Ubuntu couldn't: the inclusion of the KDE 4 user interface.

That's because Fedora and Ubuntu have different approaches to new projects such as KDE 4, which is new, significantly different from KDE 3.5, and not yet settled down.

(Credit: Red Hat)

Red Hat has two versions of Linux, the free Fedora that's designed as a proving ground that can get new projects into the hands of early adopters while helping those projects to mature, and the subscription-fee-based Red Hat Enterprise Linux that's supported for years and certified to work with assorted hardware and software.

There's only one Ubuntu, in contrast, and it's free; support can be purchased separately. Founder Mark Shuttleworth deliberately founded Ubuntu with that philosophy because he wasn't happy with the way Red Hat and Novell's Suse Linux had split their products into separate lines.

Ubuntu's Hardy Heron, though, Canonical's latest version of Linux and only its second to come with long-term support, couldn't support KDE 4 because the company needed it to be more mature. With no real support requirements and a short product lifespan, Fedora can accommodate bleeding-edge projects.

To address KDE 4 demand--roughly a third of Ubuntu users prefer it to the more widely used GNOME--Ubuntu programmers took a Fedora-like approach. They're working on a KDE 4 version of Hardy Heron, but it doesn't come with the support promised regular Ubuntu.

Fedora 9 also includes OpenJDK, the open-source Java software from Sun Microsystems, GNOME 2.22, the Firefox 3 beta 5 Web browser, FreeIPA to let sysadmins manage identity policy, and an improved NetworkManager package to deal with better use of multiple networks.

The software can be downloaded through the Fedora Web site. The site also has a link to the Fedora 9 release notes.

Correction 8 p.m. PT: I included the wrong duration for regular Ubuntu releases. It's 18 months.

Canonical plans to release Hardy Heron, its newest version of Ubuntu Linux on Thursday, and Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth isn't being shy and retiring about it.

"This is our most significant release ever," he said in an interview.

Ordinarily I avoid publishing such marketing superlatives, but Shuttleworth is right. Hardy Heron, also called version 8.04 for its April 2008 launch date, is Canonical's proof-in-the-pudding moment that will show whether the company can grow beyond its subsidized roots into a self-sustaining business. Ubuntu has a strong following among Linux enthusiasts, but it's Red Hat and Novell that still dominate the commercial Linux market.

The reason so much weight rests on the skinny legs of Hardy Heron is because it's only the second Linux product from the company to come with long-term support. The first LTS version of Ubuntu, Dapper Drake, arrived when the company was still comparatively immature and unknown.

Long-term support means the company releases bug fixes, security patches, and other updates for five years on the server version and three years on the desktop version, time frames more palatable to businesses than the 18-month life spans of other Ubuntu versions.

On the server, the new version has support for KVM virtualization built in and comes in a stripped-down version called JEOS (Just Enough Operating System) for software "appliances" that run on KVM or VMware. The company has been working on better hardware support--though it no longer supports Sun Microsystems' Sparc processors, Shuttleworth said. Also included are better integration with Windows' Active Directory for corporate users and a certified, downloadable version of Java software.

On the desktop, Hardy Heron now can be installed directly into the Windows file system so people can try it without having to reformat their hard drives. The software also deals better with online music and photo sites such as Flickr, he added. However, because of an upgrade timing disconnect, fans of the KDE user interface software will have to make do with only 18-month support for the older KDE 3.5 or an unsupported developer version based on the new KDE 4.0.

Still not profitable
Shuttleworth, who funded Ubuntu with wealth from his sale of an earlier start-up to VeriSign, cares about business success, but he's also willing to continue spending to help Canonical grow into new areas--such as the mobile version that's beginning in earnest with Hardy Heron.

"Ubuntu will require continuing investment from me and from others. We are on a trajectory that will make the company sustainable," Shuttleworth said. But he wouldn't say when he envisions profitability: "I'd rather not be on the hook...I keep finding additional areas to invest in."

What's a surprise to Shuttleworth, though, is that the desktop Linux is financially more significant than the version for servers.

"The desktop contributes more to Canonical's bottom line than the server," he said. The server business is still Canonical's primary focus for support revenue. But the company has been getting paid for desktop and consumer-electronics work, he said.

"On the desktop, we see strong demand for custom engineering and assurance programs as people look to Canonical to indemnify them against potential copyright or patent issues," Shuttleworth said.

Canonical also works on unbranded Linux for consumer-electronics companies, though Shuttleworth expects they'll eventually opt for something like Ubuntu. "The hardware vendors are leaping at the ability to do their own operating system. I believe over time they'll tire of the costs and risks of doing that," he said.

Regarding engineering work, he added that Canonical has a tight partnership with Intel, an "extensive on-site engineering relationship where we integrate support for latest platforms."

Fans of Ubuntu, the version of Linux developed by start-up Canonical and its open-source allies, now have a name and a priority for the version due in October: Intrepid Ibex will be designed to make mobile computing better.

"A particular focus for us will be pervasive Internet access, the ability to tap into bandwidth whenever and wherever you happen to be," said Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth in an e-mail announcement of Intrepid Ibex, also known as version 8.10. "We want you to be able to move from the office, to the train, and home, staying connected all the way."

The mobile priority is part of a general focus on desktop computing for the new version, Shuttleworth said. "Our desktop offering will once again be a focal point as we re-engineer the user interaction model so that Ubuntu works as well on a high-end workstation as it does on a feisty little subnotebook," and performance and productivity also should be better.

The imminent version of Ubuntu, Hardy Heron, is due in April. Canonical releases new Ubuntu versions every six months; most are supported for 18 months, but Hardy Heron will be the second "long-term support" version, which means bug fixes and commercial support will be available for five years on the server and three years on the desktop.

For the record, the names of Ubuntu releases thus far are as follows (the alphabetical order arrived a few versions in): Warty Warthog, Hoary Hedgehog, Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft, Feisty Fawn, and Gutsy Gibbon.

(Via TuxMachines.)

Heading in a different direction from its main rivals, Ubuntu Linux will use KVM as its primary virtualization software.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server both use the Xen virtualization software, a "hypervisor" layer that lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer. In contrast, the KVM software runs on top of a version of Linux, the "host" operating system that provides a foundation for other "guest" operating systems to run in a virtual mode.

"We've chosen to settle on KVM as our main virtualization focus," Soren Hansen, the Ubuntu Server Team's 26-year-old virtualization specialist, said in the Ubuntu Weekly News.

The move gives new prominence to KVM, which was initially popular with Linus Torvalds and other programmers of the Linux kernel. However, in the months since start-up Qumranet began the KVM project, the Xen programmers have made more progress in dovetailing their code more closely with the Linux kernel. KVM and Xen both are open-source packages.

KVM will be built into Ubuntu's next version, called Hardy Heron and due in April. "For the Hardy Heron release, we've really picked up the virtualization ball. Virtualization is making its way into data centers and onto developer workstations everywhere. Even 'regular' users are using it to run Ubuntu on Mac OS X all the time," Hansen said. "Virtualization has been on our agenda for a long time, but it became a top priority at UDS (Ubuntu Developer Summit) in November. We could see that demand for it was growing."

Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, will provide long-term support for Hardy Heron that lasts five years for servers and three years for PCs. Ubuntu is updated about every six months, but Hardy Heron is only the second version to get long-term support.

Xen is already built into Red Hat and Novell's Linux products, and Microsoft is on the brink of releasing its own virtualization product, called Hyper-V. However, the market leader for virtualization is EMC subsidiary VMware, which sells not only the virtualization foundation but also higher-level tools to monitor server performance and to move applications from one server to another to adjust work load.

Hansen said programmers also evaluated several other options, including Xen, Parallels' OpenVZ, KQEMU, and VirtualBox. "We found that KVM was the best fit for us right now."

Unsurprisingly, Xen fans see things differently. In particular, Simon Crosby, chief technology officer of Citrix Systems' virtualization and management division, said KVM's approach is better suited to desktop machines than to servers.

"Ubuntu is not widely deployed in enterprise data centers, where the need for a comprehensive virtual infrastructure layer independent of any guest operating system...is a requirement articulated by every customer," Crosby said in a statement. Ubuntu is widely used on desktops, so for Ubuntu programmers, "it seems natural that a hosted virtualization model makes sense to them."

Although Ubuntu didn't use the same virtualization foundation that dominant Linux seller Red Hat chose, it will use the libvirt package Red Hat created to provide a neutral management interface to Xen, KVM, or other compatible virtualization systems.

To provide an easier interface to libvirt, Ubuntu will employ software called virt-manager, Hansen said. "It allows you to set up new virtual machine, see which ones are running, and how much CPU they're consuming," he said.

Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu version of Linux, called Tuesday's interest-rate cut the "most extraordinary failure of economic leadership in recent years."

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cut interest rates 0.75 percent on Tuesday, but Shuttleworth derided the move as "press(ing) the 'emergency morphine' button" in a blog posting that indicates the open-source software executive also has an interest in macroeconomics.

Markets "are smart enough to see that all Bernanke has done is cover up the symptoms of malaise," he said and offered a gloomy forecast: "I expect that any relief will be brief, market recoveries will fade, the rout has been deferred but not averted."

Shuttleworth argues that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was able to use the interest-rate cuts as a tool to avert U.S. economic troubles because the usual penalty of reducing interest rates, inflation, wasn't a factor. But he also argued circumstances have changed since then, and it was foolish for Bernanke to cut rates.

"With hindsight, it appears that the real reason for the absence of inflation (during Greenspan's reign) was that the Chinese were increasing their productivity dramatically, and that U.S. consumers were spending so much on Chinese goods that Chinese productivity growth, not U.S. productivity growth, was keeping U.S. prices low," Shuttleworth said.

Bernanke is using the same approach now, but this time without "the deflationary Eastern wind" from China, Shuttleworth said. "Greenspan made a mistake, and it will have huge consequences for the U.S. for a generation, but he had reasons for that mistake. Bernanke just blinked, he panicked, despite knowing better."

There are two dominant software projects that provide Linux with a graphical user interface, but only one of them will get long-term support in Ubuntu's next version of the open-source operating system.

GNOME, the default user interface for Ubuntu, will receive the support, but KDE won't. The reason, according to Canonical, which sponsors Ubuntu and is trying to make a business of selling the support contracts, is simply that KDE is at an awkward transitional period between two versions, the old-line 3.5 and the imminent and significantly different 4.0.

Developer interest is focused on KDE 4.0, but it's not mature enough yet to use in the next KDE-based variation of Ubuntu, called Kubuntu, Scott James Remnant, leader of the Ubuntu Desktop team, said in an explanation to a Kubuntu mailing list. But most Kubuntu developers adding features "upstream" of today's products are focused on KDE 4.0, meaning that it's risky to release a long-term support version based on 3.5.

"Given the attention being paid to KDE 4, it is difficult to believe that this will not be the preferred release in three years' time," Remnant said. "The KDE upstream position appears clear: KDE 4 is the focus of developer attention; KDE 3.5 will be supported as long as KDE 4 isn't suitable for support."

Even though I'm among those who prefer KDE overall, I think Canonical's decision is sensible under the circumstances. And maybe, if we're lucky, this choice will be one small step toward moving beyond the problem that there have to be different Ubuntu flavors with different user interfaces in the first place. But more on that later.

Ubuntu 8.04, aka "Hardy Heron" and due in April 2008, will become the second version of Ubuntu Linux to receive Canonical's long-term support (LTS) designation. Most Ubuntu versions are supported for 18 months, but LTS products are supported for three years for desktop machines and five years for servers.

GNOME-based Ubuntu more popular
GNOME is dominant among Ubuntu users, accounting for about two-thirds of Ubuntu downloads, according to Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth.

The remaining third using KDE are a sizable minority, though, and Shuttleworth has taken pains to reassure them that KDE is a priority. Notably, in 2006, Shuttleworth became the first KDE "patron". He's since been joined by four other patron-level KDE sponsors.

Canonical's commercial interests aren't always aligned with community programming-project priorities, Remnant said.

"LTS' is a commercial-support commitment provided by Canonical, who shoulders the financial and administrative burden of doing so; as such, it is entirely their decision as to whether or not they provide that support for a particular release," Remnant said. "It is difficult for this decision to be made by the community because the community's stake in Kubuntu is one of personal achievement and pride, whereas Canonical's is financial and of commercial commitments."

One Kubuntu community member, Juan Carlos Torres, said on his blog that he isn't terribly happy with the decision, but he urged programmers to channel their energies into improving Kubuntu based on KDE 4.0.

"Kubuntu doesn't have the manpower to aggressively maintain two KDE versions. With this, we can focus our efforts on KDE 4 (and migrating KDE 3 utilities to KDE 4)," he said. "As Kubuntu shifts its gears towards KDE 4, we need as many hands as we can get."

KDE 4.0 is due to be released January 18 at the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif.

Wasted energy
I see this GNOME-KDE desktop interface split as a terrible waste of energy. It's based more a historical licensing artifact rather than on some engineering breakthrough.

KDE had the early lead among Linux users, compared to Unix interface predecessors such as CDE (Common Desktop Environment), but Miguel de Icaza, among others, started the GNOME project because of open-source licensing concerns regarding a collection of KDE user interface elements called Qt. By the time Qt developer Trolltech liberalized the license terms, GNOME had taken root, with support from companies such as Red Hat.

Now Linux users are stuck not just with two user interfaces, but often two sets of accompanying control panels, music players, modem-dialing utilities, command-line interface consoles, Web browsers, and more.

That's a lot of duplicative work for programmers, but there are other repercussions. Software companies have to decide whether to build their software using Qt or the GNOME analog, GTK+. Linux distributions that ship with both are bulkier, and running both takes up more memory, as multiple libraries are loaded into RAM. New Linux users are faced with confusing inconsistencies.

Open-source fans have long argued that there's healthy competition between KDE and GNOME. That's probably true, to an extent, but I don't see the differences as particularly profound; even my allegiance to KDE is pretty thin. Frankly, the more interesting rival is XFCE (used in an Ubuntu variant called Xubuntu), a spartan, utilitarian interface that forsakes glitz in favor of working on machines without vast quantities of memory, and the latest processors and graphics chips.

But the real competition here is with Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X. All this overlapping work on KDE and GNOME could be put to better use, matching or beating the innovation and performance of proprietary operating-system interfaces.

• Canon Hood ET-155 - $840 - I guess anybody who can afford Canon's 400mm f/2.8 lens can afford an $840 lens hood to go with it. It's cheaper on B&H, though.
• Moose News Blog » helpful Nikon D3, D300 videos - A link to some detailed Nikon videos on using D3 and D300 SLRs.
• Naked light--Mac OS X Image Editor - An attempt to revolutionize image editing. for Mac OS X, in beta 0.1 right now.
• Photodoto »DSLRs, sensor dust, and NASA - Sensor dust on narrow-aperture photos taken from the Space Shuttle. I wonder if dust is worse in zero gravity...
• JPG Magazine: Stories: Just Say No to the In-flight Movie - Tips on photography from a plane flight.
• One Library To Rule Them All - O'Reilly Digital Media Blog - The Apple Aperture variation of the library/collection question. "Keeping one library lets you take full advantage of Aperture's keywording and search features."
• Dirk's Photo Blog » Tutorial: Create Your Own Planets - How to make those spherical mini-planets from a stitched photo panorama. I love these.
• Nikon offers Capture NX free with D3, D300 - I meant to check about whether the free Capture NX deal was available in the U.S., and apparently it is. Silly that Nikon makes you pay extra for a raw conversion tool ordinarily; though a lot of people won't use it, a lot unfamiliar with raw images will.
• Aaron Toponce » Blog Archive » Why Dvorak? Comfort - Using grep to compare typing efficiency of Dvorak vs. Qwerty keyboard. Result: a lot more time on the home row.
• MPAA's University Toolkit hit with DMCA takedown notice after GPL violation - The ghost of Jack Valenti vs. the spirit of free software.
• HardyHeron/Alpha1 - Ubuntu Wiki - Hardy Heron is the next version of Ubuntu Linux to get long-term support, and the first to get fancy 3D user interface eye candy by default. Alpha one is out.
• HD Photo Specification Download: Version 1.0 - The download site for HD Photo, which MIcrosoft is working to standardize as JPEG XR.

NComputing's products let multiple people share the same PC.

(Credit: NComputing)

A batch of 7,000 PCs with Ubuntu Linux have been sent to Macedonian schools, the first of a collection that Ubuntu sponsor Canonical expects will reach 20,000.

Through a program called Computer for Every Child, the Macedonia Ministry of Education and Science plans to install the PCs throughout its elementary and secondary school system. Ubuntu will run on the 20,000 PCs, but 160,000 more students will be able to share those machines using hardware from NComputing, Canonical plans to announce Tuesday. The PCs are being supplied and installed by Haier, a Chinese PC maker.

"The Computer for Every Child initiative is the largest and most important education project undertaken in the 15-year history of the Republic of Macedonia," said Ivo Ivanovski, Macedonia's minister for the information society, in a statement. "By selecting Ubuntu as the operating system for all of our classroom virtual PCs, our education system can provide computer-based education for all schoolchildren within the limited financial and infrastructural confines that most institutions face today."

The schools are using version 7.04 of Edubuntu, a version of Ubuntu tailored for classroom use.

With PCs already commonplace in richer countries, companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and Canonical are focusing on reaching markets in developing countries.

Over the years, Red Hat's Fedora has made a name for itself as a version of Linux for enthusiasts, developers, and those who want to try the latest thing in open-source software. But a curious feature of the new version 8, released Thursday, is the ability to strip out the Fedora identity altogether.

The reason: Red Hat wants Fedora to be a foundation for those who want to build their own Linux products on a Fedora foundation. With Fedora 8, that's easier, because all the Fedora-specific elements are wrapped up into one neatly optional package, said project leader Max Spevack.

Red Hat is releasing Fedora 8 Thursday.

(Credit: Phoronix)

"It becomes really easy to have a built-from-Fedora distribution that is branded in your own way," Spevack said.

That re-brandability is notable, given that even in the share-and-enjoy world of open-source software, people can become attached to their brands. But there's something in it for Red Hat, too: a potentially broader community.

Red Hat is vying with Novell's OpenSuse, Canonical's Ubuntu, and others for the attention of developers who can get involved in the project. A Fedora user no doubt is much more likely to become a Red Hat Enterprise Linux customer than the average Linux user. And while Fedora is free, RHEL is available only for a fee.

The ability to "re-spin" Fedora is attracting some interest. Among the Fedora-based variations that will be available are one for gaming, one for designing microprocessors, and one for programmers.

Those trying out Fedora can download what's called a LiveCD, which enables a computer to boot the operating system from a CD rather than from a disruptive installation on the hard drive. The LiveCD was introduced with Fedora 7, but Ubuntu got there first.

"Back when Fedora 6 came out a year ago, we didn't have a solid LiveCD at all. Ubuntu was killing us because they had it working," Spevack said. So Red Hat jumped on it, and Spevack thinks they even leapfrogged Ubuntu by making a variation that boots off a USB flash memory drive, he said.

"We recognized an area where we were lacking and fixed it in a way that now has set us up technically as being more advanced," he said.

Among other new features in Fedora 8:

• New software to do a better job detecting printers when they're plugged in, installing the appropriate driver automatically, and informing users as the process proceeds. "Plugging in a printer is one of those things that should just work. The new printer stuff we've got in Fedora 8 makes that a lot easier," Spevack said.

• A screen background that changes colors subtly as the day progresses, offering darker images at midnight, perking up as dawn approaches, and becoming bright blue mid-day.

• The PulseAudio application improves some audio abilities, for example letting users set different volumes for different programs or making sure that one user's music is hushed when the system is fast-switched to another user.

• The GNOME Online Desktop, which lets groups of users share information such as blog posting alerts or now-playing music information.

• The tickless kernel, a low-level feature designed to reduce power consumption and increase efficiency by letting the computer actually idle when it's not busy, is now available for 64-bit systems as well as the 32-bit systems that were supported when the feature arrived with Fedora 7.

• Another run at a longstanding problem with Linux, better support for laptop features such as suspend/resume, special keys, and monitor backlights.