Red Hat 9.0 Adds Threading Library.

Linux provider Red Hat Inc. will release the next version of its personal and professional Linux operating system, Red Hat Linux 9.0, to the retail channel early next month.

Red Hat officials on Tuesday confirmed the contents of an e-mail, first reported by eWEEK, that the company sent some customers on Monday.

The e-mail said that, beginning March 31, paid subscribers to the Red Hat Network would have access to Red Hat Linux 9 ISOs (images of a CD that users download and then burn to blank CDs as the installation disks) a full week before retail store and Red Hat FTP availability.

"What you might not know is that Red Hat Network passed the one million users mark earlier this year. We've listened to valuable feedback and have added two items of interest to keep those users happy--the early release of Red Hat Linux 9 ISOs and improved technical support," the e-mail said.

Deb Woods, a Red Hat director, told eWEEK on Tuesday that the product would thus only be available in the retail market on April 7. "So, for $60 per system per year, individuals or small businesses can sign up for Red Hat Network and get all updates as well as early access to the electronic documentation version and be able to download the ISOs themselves," she said.

Matt Wilson, who manages the base operating system for Red Hat, told eWEEK on Tuesday that the most significant technical feature in Red Hat 9.0 is the inclusion of the Native Posix Threading Library (NTPL), essentially an enhanced threading technology that allows developers to create software with increased scalability, faster speeds and standardized development processes.

"This is where we put the bulk of our engineering efforts for version 9.0. Linux has been lacking a scalable thread implementation for some time. The one we've had in the past didn't scale well, had some behavior problems and wasn't standards compliant.