spinynorman

According to the Mageia Blog, the release cycle will be 9 months, with each release supported for 18 months. More details on the blog.

According to the Mandriva Blog, the Board has decided to extend full support for Mandriva 2010.1 & 2010.2 for an additional 6 months. The products lifetime policy page has not yet been updated.

The Mandriva Blog reports that RC1 is now available. Release notes are here.

I've amended the title. :)

Having been puzzled by the results I've been getting with Google/Linux, I've done a bit of digging and found that Google has discontinued a number of specialised search facilities - but didn't bother to announce it. If you use www.google.com/linux, you are redirected to www.google.com/webhp. To get Linux results, you have to include the word in the search terms. Thanks to the unofficial GoogleSystem blog for the information.

Announcement on Mandriva Blog.

Edit your first post. :)

Mageia forums are now up and running.

It would be nice if more members set up personal blogs. We've got a few, but they're mainly about Linux. I would like to read about other people's lives, holidays, travel, hobbies and interests. Unfortunately, my life is extremely boring so I can't set a good example...

Thanks for reporting back. :)

The 2nd Alpha version of Mandriva 2011 should be appearing on mirrors shortly. Among the most noticeable features are the simplification of the initial setup steps, both when running the image in Live mode, or before the installation, update to kernel 2.6.37.2, integration of the latest networkmanager-mdv plugin by Andrey Borzenkov, switch from scim to ibus for input framework, more indepth systemd integration into the system, and, of course, lots of packages updates all around. News from Mandriva Blog.

It certainly seems to be down. You can check if it's just you at www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com. :)

The first DVD ISOs of Mageia, Alpha 1 (code name Cantine) should be available shortly on a mirror near you. More details on the Mageia Blog.

Mandriva 2011 Alpha 1 has been released, and should be available in devel/isos/2011 directory on your favorite mirror shortly! More details on the Mandriva Blog.

The Mandriva Blog reports that release dates of Mandriva 2011 have shifted by 2 weeks. As a preview was promised for today, they have prepared an additional release, Mandriva 2011 Technology Preview, to show what's in Cooker currently, and what will be available in Alpha.

Details

Mandriva has announced its latest distribution specially designed for Intel ClassMate PC and other small educational netbooks, integrated with the Mythware educational application: Mandriva-Mythware Educational Solution. Based on the same kernel as Mandriva Linux, Mandriva-Mythware Educational Solution is a complete and easy- to-use tool designed to transform teaching into an interactive experience. It will also help you discover Mandriva operating system, Mandriva Linux 2010: with innovative functionalities and a user-friendly interface customized for the education world. See the full press release at www.mandriva.com.

The development plans and release schedule for Mandriva 2011 are here.

Mandriva have announced a wallpaper competition for Mandriva Linux 2010.2. As always, you can submit your contributions via flickr and vote for the pictures you prefer. More information on the Mandriva blog.

The Brazilian government education authority has selected Intel-powered classmate PCs running Mandriva Linux for educational use nationwide. Mandriva is working with the hardware manufacturer partner Positivo, to deliver this open source solution which will help teachers to improve students’ education. Also, this will be one of the world biggest organized deployment of Linux, with potential to get to 1.5 Million units, and confirms Linux as a key, cost-effective alternative PC operating system. The hardware, operating system and software is targeted to have a per student cost around USD $200. The Intel-powered classmate PC is a small and rugged, fully functional mobile PC, specially designed by Intel for primary students in emerging markets. Brazil will be one of the first countries to deploy Intel-powered classmate PCs in their schools to such a large scale. The Brazilian government’s decision to choose as Intel Learning Series solutions running Mandriva Linux on a classmate PCs reaffirms Linux as the preferred operating system for the global education market with Mandriva as the Linux education market leader. More at www.mandriva.com.

Linux is fast. That's why 90%+ of the Top 500 fastest supercomputers run it. What some people don't realize is that Linux is much better at delivering speed for servers and supercomputers than it is on the desktop. That was by design. But over the last few years, there's been more interest in delivering fast desktop performance. Now there's a Linux kernel patch that may give you a faster, much faster, desktop experience. The patch by Linux kernel developer Mike Galbraith adds a mere 233 lines of code to the kernel's scheduler, but it cuts desktop latency down by a factor of ten. That's impressive — it's almost like getting a new computer. More at computerworld.com.

Eugeni Dodonov, newly appointed Mandriva Cooker Manager, has posted the details of the next two Mandriva releases as well as announced the new release schedule policy. One of these release comes as a Christmas surprise, something seen from the Mandriva project before. Dodonov posted to the Cooker mailing list that Mandriva will be releasing two releases in the coming months. The first will be seen around December 22, as a Christmas present for all Mandriva users. Mandriva 2010.2 is a freshly updated version of 2010.1, or Mandriva 2010 Spring, with all the security and bugs fixes that have been implemented since 2010.1 was released, "plus also lots of improvements, stability and performance fixes in many, many packages." In addition, Dodonov announced the release schedule for Mandriva 2011. An alpha will be released January 31, 2011; Beta 1 will be released February 28, 2011; Beta 2 on March 28, 2011; Release Candidate on April 25, 2011; and Mandriva 2011 Final should be announced on May 30, 2011. Starting with the 2011 release, Mandriva will change to a one release per year schedule replacing their previous two per year practice. Dodonov said this is to give developers more time to cook "greater releases, and - of course - will give us more time to test, validate and further improve the overall quality of the release." Exact technical specifications for each will be published online in the coming days and weeks on the Mandriva Wiki. The above is the full text of the blog entry at ostatic.com.

Details

I've added a link to the Mageia blog above - it has more activity than the main site. :)

Open sourcers have seized control of the OpenOffice project and product and declared their independence from database giant Oracle. Oracle had been OpenOffice's principal contributor - a role it inherited thanks to its acquisition of the well meaning but slow-witted Sun Microsystems earlier this year. Driving home the changes, OpenOffice.org project is now The Document Foundation while the OpenOffice.org suite has been given the temporary name of LibreOffice. Oracle, meanwhile, has been humiliatingly invited to re-join the OpenOffice community by applying to the Foundation. It's also been asked to donate the OpenOffice.org brand that it owns to the community. More at The Register.