Fedora Core 3 is an outstanding OS except for a few (sometimes very big) flaws. I've got big problems with KsCD, CDROM access in general and grip. There were messages on the list about uDev problems with CDROMs before the release. Why did we announce a big FC3 release when these problems weren't fixed ? I fear that this sort of thing gives Linux in general a big fat black eye CDROM access: CDROM access on my computers has been iffy ever since upgrading to FC3 (ie FC3t3, FC3rc3, FC3rc5, FC3 Final.) Clicking CDROM in devices in KDE's File Manager used to give me mounting error messages, but I used to be able to mount CDROMs manually. With FC3 Final, I have absolutely no CDROM access. I cannot eject a CDROM without rebooting. Needless to say, this is a big pain. I think this is entirely unacceptable in a final release. KsCD: has always been a troublesome app. It will now lock my machine up entirely if I play a CD with scratches on it. Either KsCD needs to be fixed or it shouldn't ship with Fedora anymore. How can we keep shiping an application that is so buggy ? I've hated KsCD since RH8 for issues where it locks up the computer or interferes with other devices needing access to the CDROM. grip: is now totally incapacitated. It crashes with a segmentation fault at start up. The first day I installed FC3, it ripped half a dozen CDs very well. Then it hit a CD with scratches and it has gone into some sort of loop that it can't get out of, not even with rebooting. While I am very happy with FC3 in general, I am very disappointed with the fact that these large problems remained in a final version. I know there was pressure for the team to keep up with the schedule, but was it worth shipping a distro that is now going to cause a lot of people a lot of headaches ? I've got mixed feelings about the whole Fedora effort. I'm not sure that its mandate is in sync with users. Is its focus on producing a good, stable, usable distro for everyday use by run of the mill Linux users or is it to push out Linux technology ASAP so that it gets tested ? I guess I've got the feeling that FC3 went out the door a bit early and could have used another 2 weeks of testing and bug fixes. I'm sure that the team adhered to the "it doesn't wreck any data" criteria, but I think there are a few areas in FC3 that should have been polished a bit more before it went out the door. I've got a suggestion: I think that Fedora should continue its "bleeding edge" mentality and that it should strive to ship 2-3 releases a year. However, I think there should be sub releases in between releases that do nothing but make the previous release perfect. For example, I think the team should start working on a Fedora 3.1 release that fixes CDROM access, sound and a few other issues that seem to remain in this release. The goal should be a near perfect release before the team focuses on Fedora Core 4. CDROM access will need to be fixed prior to FC4, so why not gather that and other fixes and put them in another release ? -- Kim Lux (Mr.) Diesel Research Inc