Background
The Fedora distribution is made for enthusiastic and curious computer users that like to learn and experience newer versions of software and therefore might not suit everyone. Although the Project works hard to make Fedora as usable as possible for the widest possible audience there are inherent limitations on how fast a new software can be translated, gain accessibility features, provide the most comprehensive documentation and guidance. If you on the other hand need a stable Linux distribution that supports even the latest hardware, are willing to put some effort to help the free and open source software (FOSS) community and file some bug reports this might be a perfect system for you!
Fedora is a fast moving distribution that stays innovative by developing and integrating the latest free and open source programs, software libraries and tools. It is particularly appreciated by the technology professionals, digital artists, software developers, gamers, students and academia. But you could also be a regular user that appreciates the hard work that goes into the making of an operating system and wants a more feature rich Linux distribution. By including only free and open source applications, we enable collaboration with a very large community of developers and users. Following the "release early, release often" methodology, Fedora has a short lifecycle to enable upstream projects to get feedback from a large number of users, enhance features further, close gaps, and fix issues rapidly -- thereby furthering our mission of progress of free and open source software.
Finding Out
To understand better whether Fedora is suitable for you, ask yourself the following:
- Do you want the latest stable software, produced and maintained by a growing community of FOSS contributors?
- Do you want a platform that features technologies that use or become the next generation of standards?
- Are you OK with moving your computer's OS a minimum of about once a year to use these technologies?
- Do you care about sustainable progress in software freedom and innovation?
- Are you interested in becoming part of a community of contribution and helping drive innovation in FOSS by contributing code, documentation, translation, administration, or otherwise participating?
If the answer to any or all of these questions is "yes," you should consider Fedora as your operating system. We feature the latest in free and open source technologies, and much of this innovation is driven primarily by contributors in the Fedora Project. Because of our dedication to working continuously with upstream software communities, your involvement with Fedora -- whether to file a bug or to maintain part of the distribution -- is a direct help to all FOSS users worldwide, not promoting a single distribution at the cost of others. This is why the work done in Fedora is used in so many other Linux distributions. By the same token, we actively take an interest in all vital upstream projects to promote good engineering practices and a smooth user experience across distributions.
Other People Using Fedora
- Linus Torvalds, the creator and primary maintainer of Linux does
- NASA systems
- Roadrunner, the number two Supercomputer in the world
- Evo Smart Console gaming console
- Over a hundred Derived distributions including Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OLPC
- Even some robots do
- Millions of other users