Hi, my name is Fedora Core "Bordeaux", and today I am 5. When I
turned 4 last year, they got a funny salesman to talk about me like I
was a toy. I like toys. But today Teacher said I am a big kid, and I
should talk about myself. I can do lots of big kid stuff now, and
everyone tells me that I play really well with all the other kids in
class, even the ones who are mean like bullies. I always try and
share, which is what Teacher says is the best thing.
Sharing is a really good thing to do. I like to share all my toys and
books and stuff with all the other kids so that they can play with
them and even learn things, too. I have a lot of neat stuff to share,
so I made this cool list to tell you all about it. Teacher gave me
some things to put in the list, but since I'm a big kid I think I
should get to say what I want, too.
* GNOME 2.14
"Improved speed and usability, and new and better features for power
management, file sharing, user help, system administration,
teleconferencing, picture browsing, and networking." I think it's
easy enough for even my little brother to use, but Mommy and Daddy
like it a lot too.
* OpenOffice 2.0.2
"Enhanced productivity features, extensive compatibility with other
popular office software, database connectivity functions, and improved
use of system libraries for faster loading and better responsiveness
overall." Mommy says she can make slide shows for work even easier
than before, and Daddy uses it to organizes all our books, music, and
movies in databases.
* KDE 3.5.1
"New and exciting features for users and developers, including stylish
and attractive applets, educational and entertaining games, incredibly
standards-compliant Internet tools, and enhanced multimedia and
usability." Plus it looks REALLY cool, especially when my big sister
fixes it just the way she likes.
* Mono
"Support for .NET means a new generation of dynamic and powerful
cross-platform applications, with some already included, such as
Tomboy for note-taking, F-Spot for photo management, and Beagle for
content searching and indexing." See, I told you I'm really good at
sharing! Plus, I don't ever have a problem remembering or finding
things, like pictures, homework, or messages. Mommy says she's really
proud of me.
* Yum-based Package Tools
"Installation and software management tools are all based on the
flexible and powerful yum utility for easy selection and upgrade of
new and existing software." And soon, I'll even be able to get my own
special software at install time!
* Xen Virtualization
"The best framework yet for installation, management, migration, and
monitoring of software-based virtual domains, allowing system owners
to effectively leverage and force-multiply existing hardware for
maximum efficiency, scalability, redundancy, and flexibility."
Teacher says I get more work done faster than any other kid in our
class, too.
* Apache HTTP Server 2.2
"Enhanced authentication, database support, proxy facilities, and
content filtering, all built on the most stable and customizable
platform for Web services."
* Enhanced Security
"Support for SELinux binary policy modules means that users and
developers can now ship their own specialized policies with affected
software. GCC's best of breed features, such as stack protection, NX,
PIE, and compile-time buffer checks, pile on additional layers of
assurance to effectively block illegal ingress." I know all my safety
rules, and Mommy and Daddy say that it's really, REALLY hard for
monsters to get in our house!
So at school, I got awards for "Best Attendance," "Teacher's Pet,"
"Honor Roll," and "Good Manners," plus Teacher lets me stay after to
clean the erasers until Daddy comes to pick me up. He always tells me
how good I am compared to the other kids he knows and that he's really
proud of me. He says it's because I'm 100% free and open source, and
because I always try to do the right thing just like he and Mommy
taught me.
I told him I didn't just learn it from him, but from all the nice
people at Red Hat and the Fedora community, who teach me new things
all the time. They're all different kinds of people -- users,
developers, writers, translators, testers, editors, and so many other
things I can't even write it all. They're the people who make it
possible to build a complete Linux platform from open source software.
But they say we're not done yet, and we can ALWAYS use more friends to
help, so if you think this sounds neat, you should definitely visit:
* http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/HelpWanted
All right, I have to go now. There's always more things to learn and
do and I am a very, extremely busy kid. 'Bye!
