Linux Mint

Version 5 named Elyssa is now available for download. Bear in mind it’s beta. You can download it from here. I suggest a torrent download because it’s usually the best (and fastest) way to get it. How much has changed compared to v4? Quite a bit. Interface improved, updater improved and lots more.

Fedora

Version 9 now available. The new stuff in Fedora includes Spins, Jigdo and quite a few new features. The one that stuck out the most to me is PackageKit which has replaced Pirut. This improves “yum” performance. If you have absolutely no frickin’ clue what I’m talking about, it means that software in Fedora is now easier to manage. And yes that’s a good thing.

What the newer releases are doing now

In more or less every new release I’ve seen of just about any *nix distro, a large effort is being put forward towards better software management (i.e. install/uninstall/etc.)

To the guys and gals putting this effort forth, THANK YOU. For each successive release there is notable improvement in the software management category. We’re getting very close to the point where we don’t have to worry about “dependency hell” anymore, so good on the dev teams that make this happen. I mean that sincerely.