I read this interesting wiki http://en.opensuse.org/GNOME/Projects/Lived_in_Project/Ubuntu#Experience_of_... There are some interesting points I share, and some points that imho are what characterize SUSE since the beginning, so I think it would be interesting to discuss them a bit to hear what users think. Vincent, the author of the page, asked me to clarify that what he wrote are his opinions. Of course it's the same for what I write. :-) I will comment point-to-point, hoping not to forget any. Quoted text is from the page. Let's start:
Note that some of the items here are simply caused by the fact that openSUSE tries to be everything at the same time (distro for server, desktop, etc.). It might make sense to have an install CD for server, and another one for desktop.
I like the full-featured DVD, which can do everything. And I think that having everything in one place just adds value and simplifies things both for the final users and for the maintainers. I mean: 1 medium allows you to do what you need to, and it's easier to keep under control its quality, at least in the general aspects (more people use it).
Also, there's something wrong with factory if we want people to use it (especially developers). Ubuntu is doing a much better job here.
the installer is way too complex, with too many things to do, even with the current simplification work going on in Factory.
Yes, it does a lot of things and it takes longer than ubuntu, that's sure. But on the contrary it leaves you with a fully configured system, with the software selection you want, with network properly configured even if you have various interfaces, with a firewall properly set-up and with running printing services. So I vote for keeping it long.
sudo should be used by default for a desktop install. It doesn't make any sense to have the root account. There's an option "Use the same password for root as the one used for the user" in the installer, but it's not about sudo, I believe.
Thanks for pointing this out. I was myself a sudo supporter, but someone with more technical experience than me explained to me that sudo is not the right way to follow for various security/conceptual reasons, and I agree. In the end, UNIX has root, and the users should learn to manage it. It doesn't add complexity if properly explained. About the "Use the same password for root", I think it's plain wrong. Using the same password for root and the user reduces security.
in openSUSE, there are two radeon drivers: the old one and the randr1.2-enabled one (new one), probably because the new one is still in beta. Still, it doesn't make much sense to have both and the new one works fine. Only this one should be used.
I agree. If the one selected is really working in all the cases. If not, better two than a complaining user.
on startup, there's a 10 seconds delay in grub. Ubuntu only uses 1 or 2 seconds. It helps with the feeling of booting faster. Ubuntu seems to boot faster. There might be less services, some services are started after GDM is shown, etc. upstart might help too.
Ten seconds in grub are a reasonable time to allow the user to select the operating system. And I think it's a basic requirement also for accessibility. Not all users are young, fast and without issues.
Ubuntu uses brown as the color for the root window when starting GDM (it's a gdm config option, I believe). It helps with the transition from the brown gdm theme to the brown default background on the user desktop. In openSUSE, we still use the greyish blue. It should be some green.
Hehe I love green, so I agree. But green is not much appreciated by various users, who switched back to blue or personalised backgrounds.
the menu bar is completely unusable in openSUSE: icons are too big (distro patch), and there are tons of submenus (because we use the same menu config as KDE?)
I think it's related to the idea of offering a comparable choice of applications to the users on both DE. The real, not addressed, point is that the menu (main-menu) is not well implemented and it's probably one of the most buggy piece of software we have (read never solved leaks). I would love to see a kickoff-like implementation in place of the app-browser.
with only a very short look, I saw many not-updated-to-the-latest-versions packages: yelp, totem, epiphany, rhythmbox for example.
This is SUSE policy. The released version is not upgraded until the next release. I usually agree with it, because it's thought to grant stability, but I think it was used in the wrong way sometime, not providing updates when features were lacking (for 10.3, read: anjuta, gedit with python support, ...).
Ubuntu is quite good at uploading new packages as soon as upstream releases (at least, for GNOME). This is really great for a developer like me.
I agree. But I don't want to think to continuous updates to the released version ;-)
when I update openSUSE with "zypper dup", I have to download nearly 1GB of packages. I seriously doubt that all of them were updated. It takes me hours to get all updates... (slow DSL line)
This is because dependency issues in the gnome side at opensuse are historical. One package usually brings half of gnome with itself. I don't know if it's necessary, but it's a common complaining we get.
the Ubuntu development version is nearly never broken. Factory is always broken in some way (still usable, but either no network, or uninstallable updates, or impossible to mount a usb key, etc.).
Another historical issue. I always read/experienced these issues.
I had to manually install the firmwares for my intel wireless card when I don't have a gstreamer plugin, totem shows a dialog proposing me to install it. It just opens a webpage. Ubuntu actually installs the right package (and adds the repository if needed)
Well, ubuntu violates a bunch of laws doing that :-) The intel firmware is provided on a non-OSS support and on the DVD, and should be installed by default. Online there's the non-OSS repository, which can be added at installation time. Keeping OSS and non-OSS separated is one of the long discussed key decision openSUSE made.
I couldn't find all gstreamer plugins for factory... So no multimedia experience for me.
This depends on the fact that those plugins can't be hosted in -factory for the same legal reasons they're not provided with the distribution. Moreover they're packaged by non-Novell related guys.
it's actually confusing to have so many repositories on software.opensuse.org. If possible, everything should go to the main factory repository.
I agree. But for codecs, drivers and others things, there are legal issues.
there are tons of installed packages by default that don't make any sense. Some graphical ones (gftp? skencil?), some non-graphical (tcsh, ksh, zsh: do we really need all shells by default?)
Well, except gftp (the only decent FTP client for GNOME), the rest should be removed. It's ages we get the complaint of suse having this issue.
Ubuntu doesn't use a firewall by default because the default services are secure and trusted (ssh, avahi, eg). With openSUSE, I have to choose what I want to do with the firewall.
Ubuntu does wrong on this side. Services are secure until you don't prove the contrary, and this happens often, considering that SSH is regularly patched, for example. A firewall is necessary imho, but its configuration should be easier. For example, while it's easy to open SSH port, it's a mess to have a properly working samba because of closed highports (hehe I know I said this too many times).
too many unneeded yast stuff. Users don't need to know about apparmor.
Why not? A user can happily ignore that. Who does decide that the user doesn't need to know? That's not the UNIX philosophy. The user should LEARN to use his system, and the system should provide sensible defaults, of course (as a proper AppArmor configuration).
A tool to config the mouse model in X shouldn't be needed.
The model of the mouse is selected in SaX, where the whole X is configured, and I think it's there because it might be necessary to set things in a fine way in certain cases.
There are 8 >launchers in the Software category and I don't understand what they >are... etc.
Perfectly agree on this!
seahorse/gnome-keyring integration: in Ubuntu, when I ssh somewhere, a dialog pops up. In openSUSE, I need to use the standard ssh-agent, it seems.
I agree on this one too :)
in the middle of the afternoon, I see beagle-build-index and the man db rebuild happening. Lots of hard disk use. Middle of the afternoon is when I use my computer. It should be done during the night if possible.
Hmm. This looks like a cron-job issue. It's usually done around late evening here. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org