The Alpha release contains all the features of Fedora 14 in a form that anyone can help test. This testing, guided by the Fedora QA team, helps us target and identify bugs. When these bugs are fixed, we make a Beta release available. A Beta release is code-complete, and bears a very strong resemblance to the third and final release. The final release of Fedora 14 is due in November.

We need your help to make Fedora 14 the best release yet, so please take a moment of your time to download and try out the Alpha and make sure the things that are important to you are working. If you find a bug, please report it -- every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the experience for millions of Fedora users worldwide. Together, we can make Fedora a rock-solid distribution. (Read down to the end of the announcement for more information on how to help.)

Fedora 14 is named in honor of distinguished physicist Robert B. Laughlin, whose fields of research have included, among other things, the topic of emergence. Emergence is the process by which a group of individual components interact to produce a system that is more complex than the sum of its parts - a perfect description of an open source community.