I have been spending a lot of time with F9 beta and all I can say is that it just works. The biggest bane of any desktop environment is the support for audio and I can fully understand and appreciate the stand Fedora has take with respect to the inclusion of codecs for playing mp3 files.

So, how did I solve the problem? Easy. I used codeina and that allowed me to get, for free, a mp3 codec. Even if I had to pay for it, I can get the whole bundle of different codecs for about 28 Euros. I think that is perfectly acceptable and, imho, the right way to do things.

Let it not be forgotten that it is in the Fedora development that the hardest development and innovation happens in the Linux world today. Fedora is what Linux is today. Red Hat Enterprise Linux which has Fedora as it’s upstream, is what Linux has to be for enterprises for seven years!

Can’t wait for the official launch of F9 – May 13th. Cool features as well. Time to pop the champagne on yet another great operating environment focussed on freedoms!