The truth is, Roswell is new beta Linux

The latest version of the Red Hat Linux distribution has landed in beta form, under the rather spooky codename of Roswell.

Red Hat 7.2 beta was announced in a release headed: "Trust no one!"

And in keeping with the Open Source philosophy, the product is marketed in a slightly alien way.

"It has come to our attention that rumors are floating regarding the appearance of a Red Hat Linux beta release, named ROSWELL. We would like to reassure you that there is nothing of the sort," said the release.

It then goes on to "deny" the inclusion of four CDs of software, including the latest 2.4.6 Linux kernel; XFree86 4.1.0, KDE 2.2pre, GNOME 1.4; journalling file system support; and support for both x86 and ia64.

However, the company pointed out that the beta is for trial usage only and "not recommended for use on mission-critical hardware."

As a disclaimer, "any casualties due to data loss, mutation, swamp gas, radiation, or strange glowing lights with such a release would be scoffed at. Any problems or bugs with such a release would most likely be the effect of passing weather balloons."

The documentation was welcomed by open source supporters, who said: "It's not only a joy to use and administer, but the Linux culture - the ability of awesomely talented developers to poke fun at themselves - is hugely refreshing in this age of carefully couched marketing blather."

But it would seem that at least one user who had downloaded the beta was not so impressed with the software: "Well, after screwing with it for the last few hours, I just have to say that I hope to God they do a lot more work before 7.2, otherwise this is REALLY going to be a bad release," he wrote in a user newsgroup.

But the truth is out there and you can discover it for yourself here.