Fedora Overview

[Paul W. Frields]

On Fri, 2008-05-02 at 16:28 +0100, Jonathan Roberts wrote:
> I don't know if this is what people had in mind for the re-worked
> version of this, but I wanted something easy to write to distract me
> from essay woes!! Oh, and links are missing from this...
> 
> Thoughts and feedback always welcome :)
> 
> ----------------------------
> 
> == What is Fedora? ==
> 
> Firstly, Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that aims to provide
                                                         ^^^^^^^
Be BOLD!

> users with access to the latest free and open source software in a
> stable and easy to manage form. We strongly believe in the principles
> of the free and open source software that provides all the components
> of our operating system, and because of this we guarantee that Fedora
> will always be free for anybody to use, modify and distribute.

Instead:

"Firstly, Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides
users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a
stable and easy to manage form. We strongly believe in the bedrock
principles that provide all the components of our operating system.
Because of this we guarantee that Fedora will always be free for
anybody, anywhere, to use, modify and distribute."

> Fedora, however, is more than just the software that makes up the
> operating system. It is a community of contributors based all across
> the world who work with each other to advance the interests of the
> free culture movement. Everyone is invited to join and no matter what
> your skills are, we have a place for you in our community! Currently,
> we have software engineers, artists, system administrators, web
> designers, writers, speakers and translators, all of whom will be
> happy to help you get started.
> 
> == What makes Fedora different? ==
> 
> We aim to always do the right thing. This means that we provide only
> free and open source software, and we will fight to protect and
> promote solutions that enable anybody to make use of them. With this
> in mind, all of our developers are focused on working closely with
> upstream, to ensure that everyone can benefit from our work and get
> access to our changes as soon as possible - and because of the huge
> amount of innovation that Fedora drives, this has had significant and
> long lasting effects. Some of the recent developments in free and open
> source software that Fedora has driven include:
> 
>  * NetworkManager
>  * D-Bus
>  * OpenJDK
>  * FreeIPA
>  * SELinux
>  * PulseAudio
> 
> The reverse is also true: by sticking close to upstream development
> teams, Fedora gets the latest software before anybody else. Not only
> does this benefit our community, but it also benefits the upstream
> teams by providing a much larger audience and more feedback for them.
> 
> Another striking difference of Fedora is our aim to empower others to
> persue their vision of what a free operating system should be like. We
> have opened up our build system and repositories to anybody who needs
> them, and as a result Fedora now forms the basis for derivative
> distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the One Laptop Per
> Child XO and Creative Commons Live Content DVDs.

"persue" ==> "pursue"

Well, this is *mostly* true.  "[W]e have opened up our build system and
repositories to anybody who needs them" has some significant technical
hurdles still to surmount.  I'd strike this up to "as a result," and
simply start that sentence "Fedora now forms..."

> And that's not all, it is even easy for individuals to create their
> own distribution thanks to Fedora's easy re-spinning tools. They allow
> you to quickly select the packages you want, and create a live CD or
> installation disc. Some official versions of Fedora have grown up this
> way, including:
> 
>  * Fedora XFCE Spin
>  * Fedora Electronics Lab
>  * Fedora Developers Spin
>  * Fedora Games Spin
>  * Fedora Hindi Spin
> 
> == How do I get Fedora? ==
> 
> Easy, just visit this page and download it. You can try it without
> installing anything on your computer thanks to our live CDs or live
> USBs - in fact, you can even create a live USB stick from within
> Windows!
> 
> If you have a slow internet connection, or no internet connection at
> all, then you can still get Fedora thanks to our Free Media programme.

You Brits and your crazy spelling.  (KIDDING!  Some of my best friends
are Brits.  No really.) ;-)

> == How do I join Fedora? ==
> 
> Like what you see and want to help out? That's easy too! This page has
> all the information you need, and don't forget that all our
> contributors get access to some awesome tools to help them get their
> work done:
> 
>  * Fedora People provides free webspace for hosting Fedora related content
>  * Fedora Planet is an aggregation of contributor blogs so you can see
> what everyone is up to
>  * Fedora Hosted is the perfect location for hosting your project
>  * Fedora's own Gobby server, so we can collaboratively work on
> documents in real time
>  * Hundreads of other people's skills and experience!
     ^^^^^^^^^ "Hundreds"

Awesome job!

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
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  irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug
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