The highly-anticipated release of Fedora 9 is here! It has the new KDE4 desktop that I reviewed on LinuxPlanet which makes some big improvements in user experience and speed. It also includes the hot new FireFox 3 web browser with some new security features that are sure to impress even the most jaded surfer. Fedora 9 also gives you the options of the new ext4 filesystem, encrypted filesystems, partition resizing, and Xen virtualization enhancements.

The ext4 filesystem is a higher-performance, high capacity filesystem based on the ext3 filesystem. Anaconda, the Fedora installer program, allows you to resize ext2/ext3, and NT filesystems. You can also create and install to encrypted filesystems.

Fedora 9, and all things Fedora-related are found at fedoraproject.org. You can now download via direct http or ftp, bittorrent, or jigdo. There are several download options awaiting you at the Fedora Project page--you can download Live Fedora CD images with either the Gnome or KDE Desktop interface, Installation DVD images for x86, x86_64, and ppc platforms, and your choice of download options in case you have a slow or limited Internet connection.

I don't recommend Fedora 9, or any other Fedora release, for production-level use. They aren't beta but they are also somewhat leading edge and therefore less stable than other versions of Linux. But, if you want to test out some coolness, grab Fedora 9 and let me know what you think of it. I'll give you my report when I've had a chance to play a bit more.