Fedora: the GNOME desktop, and a count you should check on your image
Fedora Workstation is the GNOME edition. The project describes a count with no machine identifier, and an opt-out. The file that would say whether it is enabled for you could not be read.
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What to expect
Fedora fits if you want a GNOME desktop run by the project, or a separate atomic edition. The documented count is not proof it is on in the image you download.
Who it is for
Fedora Workstation fits if you want the GNOME desktop and the tools meant for making things. It fits poorly if you want a desktop frozen for years, or if you treat Workstation and the atomic desktops as the same edition. They are not.
What you gain
You get a desktop edition described as ready for laptops and workstations, with GNOME. The project also publishes atomic desktops, including Sway, Budgie and COSMIC. One edition does not turn the others on.
What you take on
You follow Fedora’s pace, shorter than Debian stable. Workstation and an atomic image do not update the same way. We did not read each edition beyond the homepage.
Privacy
Fedora described a count that, once enabled, adds an age bucket to an ordinary metadata request, at most once a week. There is no unique machine identifier. The change page provides for an opt-out.
The DNF manual says the flag is added only when countme is enabled. The repository file that would show the current setting was behind a bot wall. Do not say your Fedora phones home. Say the mechanism exists, and check the setting on the image.
The decision
Choose Workstation if GNOME and Fedora’s pace suit you. Choose an atomic edition only if you want that update model. Before using silence as an argument, open the countme setting.
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Fedora
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This article draws on the sources above. The exercises are for you to try on your devices; SecuFocus does not present them as tests carried out by its editorial team. Interfaces and features can change. Method and corrections.
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