Fedora Directory Server changes its name
After long internal discussions, the Fedora Directory Server (FDS) developers have changed the name of their project to the 389 Directory Server (389DS). One of the main arguments for the name change is that the "Fedora" name, initially intended to be a generic brand for all of the Red Hat open source projects, turned out to be an obstacle preventing cooperation from other Linux distributions. The name implied that it was "The Directory Server of Fedora", which it is not and has a "negative connotation in some communities". A more detailed list of reasons for the change can be found on the project Wiki. Currently, the new homepage for the project is only an alias for the current site.
389DS, like OpenLDAP, is based on the sladp project from the University of Michigan from the mid-nineties. Netscape employed the original project developers and marketed it under the name "Netscape Directory Server". In the summer of 2005, Red Hat bought Netscape Enterprise solutions and thus the rights to the directory server and the certificate management. Shortly after the completion of the first version of the "Red Hat Directory Server", it's source code was released and placed under the Fedora Project umbrella.
(crve)