Linux vendor Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) is ramping up for its next community Linux release as Fedora 11, codenamed "Leonidas" hits its preview milestone release today -- showing off the future of Linux technologies.

Fedora 11 includes new open source technologies that accelerate the Linux desktop from a number of different perspectives. Boot time is improved, as is device connectivity, while server-side installations will benefit from a new Linux filesystem and enhanced virtualization capabilities.

The Fedora 11 Preview milestone comes at a closely watched time in the operating system market, as Linux rival Ubuntu ramps up its efforts while Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 7 nears release following Windows Vista's lackluster reception.

"Fedora 11 preview is a snapshot of the future of Linux technologies throughout the field," Fedora Project Leader Paul Frields told InternetNews.com. "When you look at the virtualization or kernel features in Fedora 11, you'll see the sort of things that are going to be important to business users and enterprise customers down the line."

Today's milestone release of Fedora 11 is officially called the "Preview Release" -- the final version of Fedora 11 is currently scheduled to be available on May 26.

"The preview release is the third in our set of test releases for Fedora 11, it's a way for a broader set of people to set of community members and the public to see how things are progressing," Frields explained. "The preview tends to be very close to our final release. It still has some issues in it that we're trying to resolve, but it represents our best take on what the final release will look like."

While Red Hat is often thought of as concentrating on the enterprise server with its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) releases, Frields argued that Fedora 11 has more of desktop focus, continuing efforts that Fedora 9 and Fedora 10 introduced to make the Linux desktop experience better for users.