On Wed, 2008-10-29 at 17:08 -0400, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

Hey all,

One of the questions I am asked frequently: What makes openSUSE unique among Linux distros?

I think it'd be good to have a list of benefits / advantages to openSUSE. Note, not looking to say we're "better" than other distros, even if we are ;-) just how are we actually *different* since we ship about 98% the same software?

Obviously, I've given this some thought, but I suspect that more heads are better than just mine on this one. As we're approaching the 11.1 release, I know that this question will come up again quite a bit.

Thoughts?

Best,

Zonker --

The two things I most hear people mention, either to me or just in general in the #suse channel are YaST and zypper (or libzypp I should say.) And there's also comments, mostly positive, about our Desktop Main Menu (in GNOME at least, not sure if KDE's is distinct from others.) Anyway, those are the obvious ones from my point of view. -- Bryen Yunashko openSUSE Board Member -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

2008/10/29 Gabriel Fróes Franco :

Hey Zonker,

Speaking from my own experience what made me move from Red Hat to SuSE (back into 9.x ) was:

1) YAST: This is a great tool for someone who wants to keep control of the machine without wanting to touch zillions of configuration files. By the time I wasn't used to the configuration schema of linux and YAST helped me a lot configuring an authentication server, a firewall, a router and also setting up all the developemnt workstations on the company I used to work.

2) Even with the YAST to help you, the organization of the configuration files was easier for me to understand and use. Also the files had tons of comments to help me go through them and understand the parameters.

3) Default instalation wasn't full of unuseful sofwares. It just contained the basics and adding new sofware was easy.

4) Forums: I found all the help I needed in openSuSE community. Everyone tried hard to help new comers on forums (old forums.suselinuxsupport.de) and IRC channels. It felt like home into SuSE community.

Hope this helps,

Gabriel

My 2 cents: * Offering the 2 (3?) most used desktop (GNOME, KDE3 and KDE4) and giving the user the option to choose in the install time * Many GNOME, KDE, kernel developers working on Novell * In the KDE4 side, giving the best "implementation" of the new KDE Regards, Luiz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

openSUSE is widely recognized for its polished look and its tight, clean integration especially with KDE. It has long been positioned as a "cutting-edge" distribution. It has security, management, and value-add features not in most others. It is also actually easier to use. openSUSE users take a lot for granted with YaST and all its modules; over in Ubuntu land there is a whole lot of backfilling done from the command line. (Ubuntu's only real, but nonetheless significant, advantages are its marketing and the size of its active community). Once set up, openSUSE is exceptionally stable. Release cycle and support life commitment. IMHO the "98%" under-states the differences. Yes, somewhat similar to Fedora and Mandriva; but different in ways that are important to users. And a lot of differences from Debian, not to speak of Slackware or Gentoo. On Wednesday 29 October 2008 05:08:23 pm Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

Hey all,

One of the questions I am asked frequently: What makes openSUSE unique among Linux distros?

I think it'd be good to have a list of benefits / advantages to openSUSE. Note, not looking to say we're "better" than other distros, even if we are ;-) just how are we actually *different* since we ship about 98% the same software?

Obviously, I've given this some thought, but I suspect that more heads are better than just mine on this one. As we're approaching the 11.1 release, I know that this question will come up again quite a bit.

Thoughts?

Best,

Zonker -- Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier openSUSE Community Manager jzb@zonker.net http://zonker.opensuse.org/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/community/

-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 05:08:23PM -0400, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

One of the questions I am asked frequently: What makes openSUSE unique among Linux distros?

Definitely YaST (including the initial installer) and AutoYaST. Compared with (for example) the Fedora/RH installer and kickstart tool, YaST and AutoYaST are just vastly better in every way. I don't know very much about automated installation on Debian-like systems, but I think AutoYaST wins there too for ease of use at least. Another great thing about YaST is the way the functionality is exactly the same whether you use it in graphical mode or text (ncurses) mode. Again comparing to Fedora, the last time I looked there was (for example) system-config-network-tui and system-config-network-gui (names from memory) and their functionality is actually different. -- ======================== Roger Whittaker roger@disruptive.org.uk http://disruptive.org.uk ======================== -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On Thursday 30 October 2008 05:08:23 Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

One of the questions I am asked frequently: What makes openSUSE unique among Linux distros?

For me, there is 4 reason why I am still using opensuse since 1998. (1) The most important thing is, it is a big distro. 4.3 GB. Much more complete than most of other distros packed in 1 CD only, including the most popular linux distro right now (you know what). (2) YaST is very powerfull (3) Including most popular desktop environment in one media: KDE and GNOME, and still can be used for low end desktop or server using minimum graphical or text mode only. In other world, it is using different distro (for example: ubuntu, kubuntu, xubuntu and ubuntu server). In one sentence: "OpenSUSE is a swiss knife army distro". (4) The stability. Yes, excluding openSUSE 11.0, opensuse is a stable distro. Hopefully, openSUSE 11.1 is stable again like ussual. (5) One additional advantage for today's opensuse is the brand new "one click instal". Good job. God bless you. -- Regards, Adi Nugroho - http://adi.internux.co.id/ iNterNUX --- http://www.internux.net.id/ Jalan Dr. Sam Ratulangi No. 53J Makassar Tel. +62-411-834690 Fax. +62-411-834691 CDMA:+62-411-6109535 GSM:+62-816-27-9193 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

Adi, On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 4:33 PM, Adi Nugroho wrote:

(4) The stability. Yes, excluding openSUSE 11.0, opensuse is a stable distro. Hopefully, openSUSE 11.1 is stable again like ussual.

Looks like you point this weakness to the openSUSE 11.0 KDE4 LiveCD Edition. In another side, I'm very impressed with the openSUSE KDE 3.5 with improved zypper and YAST comparing to 10.3 -- Best Regards, Masim "Vavai" Sugianto /************************************************************/ Blog (ID) : http://www.vavai.com/blog/index.php Blog (EN) : http://www.vavai.net Community : http://www.opensuse.or.id Commercial : http://toko.vavai.biz Email : vavai@vavai.com /************************************************************/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi, I know there are several advantages. But, do you all forget one of the most important things ? We have Geeko ! :-) That's *unique* and *different* by comparison with other distros. Geeko is cute enough to capture the audience in shows. "Kawaii" - it means cute in Japanese - is most valiant and attractive especially for young Japanese girls ! ;-) Bests, - -- _/_/_/ To be Happy! _/_/_/ _/_/ Satoru Matsumoto _/_/ _/ helios_reds@gmx.net _/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkkJq60ACgkQXnHIfHE6+z3YRACfbeSeSOhBOChBcQfZCz/+bp2l qyAAoKCb6462D2lJm6SpchMwAeqeC248 =NOcf -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On 10/30/2008 08:59 AM, Martin Schlander wrote:

Torsdag 30 oktober 2008 13:42:21 skrev Satoru Matsumoto:

...

We have Geeko ! :-)

Yeah.. Distros like Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian don't have an animal mascot at all. Wonder how anyone can even use such a distro, let alone like it... :-)

Well, we *do* have the best logo/mascot, hands down. No contest... A funky circle? Pfft. We have lizard power. Best, Zonker -- Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier openSUSE Community Manager http://zonker.opensuse.org/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On 10/30/2008 05:33 AM, Adi Nugroho wrote:

(4) The stability. Yes, excluding openSUSE 11.0, opensuse is a stable distro. Hopefully, openSUSE 11.1 is stable again like ussual.

I hear stability a lot -- Is there anything specifically about openSUSE that is more stable than others? Not looking to knock other distros or anything -- just want to quantify "stability" a little further. Best, Zonker -- Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier openSUSE Community Manager http://zonker.opensuse.org/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

--- On Thu, 10/30/08, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

From: Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier Subject: Re: [opensuse-marketing] Unique about openSUSE? To: "Adi Nugroho" Cc: opensuse-marketing@opensuse.org Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 10:21 AM On 10/30/2008 05:33 AM, Adi Nugroho wrote:

...

(4) The stability. Yes, excluding openSUSE 11.0, opensuse is a stable distro. Hopefully, openSUSE 11.1 is stable again like ussual.

I hear stability a lot -- Is there anything specifically about openSUSE that is more stable than others?

Not looking to knock other distros or anything -- just want to quantify "stability" a little further.

Best,

Zonker

Stability shows through well tested software we have in openSUSE. For example, ubuntu lives with software that is mostly unstable, and there you have a lot of problemas like applications freezing. And Mandriva used to hang just too much to me so after a week never used it again. Greetings. -Ricardo Varas. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

I. On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 06:41 -0700, ricardo varas s wrote:

--- On Thu, 10/30/08, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

...

From: Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier Subject: Re: [opensuse-marketing] Unique about openSUSE? To: "Adi Nugroho" Cc: opensuse-marketing@opensuse.org Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 10:21 AM On 10/30/2008 05:33 AM, Adi Nugroho wrote:

...

(4) The stability. Yes, excluding openSUSE 11.0, opensuse is a stable distro. Hopefully, openSUSE 11.1 is stable again like ussual.

I hear stability a lot -- Is there anything specifically about openSUSE that is more stable than others?

Not looking to knock other distros or anything -- just want to quantify "stability" a little further.

Best,

Zonker

Stability shows through well tested software we have in openSUSE. For example, ubuntu lives with software that is mostly unstable, and there you have a lot of problemas like applications freezing. And Mandriva used to hang just too much to me so after a week never used it again.

Greetings. -Ricardo Varas.

While I think Ricardo makes some great examples, are we able to quantify that with any statistics that show users have fewer problems on openSUSE than others? I think just using those examples without any real quantification runs the risk of Joe having to respond to audience members saying "Hey, just because that guy didn't install very well, or had bad hardware, don't paint us as a crappy distro." I'm sure the others do some testing. The focus should be then, why our testing methodologies are better than theirs, thus leading to such stability. Or is it because our upstream contributions usually give birth first by testing on an openSUSE box? -- Bryen Yunashko openSUSE Board Member -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

--- On Thu, 10/30/08, Bryen wrote:

...

--- On Thu, 10/30/08, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

...

From: Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier Subject: Re: [opensuse-marketing] Unique about openSUSE? To: "Adi Nugroho" Cc: opensuse-marketing@opensuse.org Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 10:21 AM On 10/30/2008 05:33 AM, Adi Nugroho wrote:

...

(4) The stability. Yes, excluding openSUSE 11.0, opensuse is a stable distro. Hopefully, openSUSE 11.1 is stable again

From: Bryen Subject: Re: [opensuse-marketing] Unique about openSUSE? To: opensuse-marketing@opensuse.org Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 10:56 AM I. On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 06:41 -0700, ricardo varas s wrote: like ussual.

...

...

I hear stability a lot -- Is there anything

specifically

...

about openSUSE that is more stable than others?

Not looking to knock other distros or anything -- just want to quantify "stability" a little further.

Best,

Zonker

Stability shows through well tested software we have in openSUSE. For example, ubuntu lives with software that is mostly unstable, and there you have a lot of problemas like applications freezing. And Mandriva used to hang just too much to me so after a week never used it again.

Greetings. -Ricardo Varas.

While I think Ricardo makes some great examples, are we able to quantify that with any statistics that show users have fewer problems on openSUSE than others?

I think just using those examples without any real quantification runs the risk of Joe having to respond to audience members saying "Hey, just because that guy didn't install very well, or had bad hardware, don't paint us as a crappy distro."

I'm sure the others do some testing. The focus should be then, why our testing methodologies are better than theirs, thus leading to such stability. Or is it because our upstream contributions usually give birth first by testing on an openSUSE box?

-- Bryen Yunashko openSUSE Board Member

Hi Bryen! I don't know today what testing methodologies have other distros, but I tend to believe that openSUSE release cycle allows a better stability level, besides being a Novell business is a plus too. About ubuntu (or eventually other distro), I don't think its crappy, but for me openSUSE works better in every way. Now, as users if any bug appears, we should report it with as much information as we can so next releases are even better. We all can help make openSUSE the best distro out there. -Ricardo Varas. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 29 October 2008 21:08:23 Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:

Hey all,

One of the questions I am asked frequently: What makes openSUSE unique among Linux distros?

It's a good, solid, well engineered, polished distro. It's good for beginners because it's very well documented. The deciding factors that influenced me when I chose SuSE 7.2 as my first distro were: (a) I could buy the distro in a box from a local retailer with CDs, 2 printed manuals, and 90 days installation support. It's still possible to buy a box via the internet, with a DVD, 1 printed manual, and 90 day installation support. (b) The distro comes with electronic copies of manuals, including: The openSUSE Start Up Guide KDE and Gnome Quick Start Guides The openSUSE Reference Guide The KDE Guide These are available in many languages, and are an excellent source of information and education about the openSUSE distro. The above documentation is supplemented by the openSUSE website (http://en.opensuse.org). -- Denis Leslie Can we live on our own renewables? - http://www.withouthotair.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On Thursday 30 October 2008 23:17:48 ¡ElCheVive! wrote:

...

These are available in many languages, and are an excellent source of information and education about the openSUSE distro.

I disagree.... These manuals are only in English and German...(and these manuals are not explicit to the new user, its hidden somewhere in the installed system...)

Yes, fair criticism. For the language point, I was quoting wrongly from this wiki page: http://en.opensuse.org/Documentation Also, I agree the manuals are not easy for the new user to find, but that could be improved. However, I do think the manuals are an important plus point for openSUSE compared to other distros. -- Denis Leslie -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On Thursday 30 October 2008 20:10:17 Masim "Vavai" Sugianto wrote:

Looks like you point this weakness to the openSUSE 11.0 KDE4 LiveCD Edition.

No. Even I use KDE 3.5, OpenSUSE 11.0 is not working well in my notebook. My touchpad was very well in OpenSUSE 10.1. 10.2 and 10.3. I have to hack to /etc/X11/Xorg.conf to make my touchpad working well in OpenSUSE 11.0. With opensuse 11.0, KDE Crash Handler become my friend :) I switch back to opensuse 10.3, because I shy when the KDE Crash handler appears in the middle of my presentation promoting linux and opensuse :p Not a good marketing, hehehe... In my friend's notebook, the network card is not detected. It was working well in OpenSUSE 10.3. Setting network, which was easy in opensuse 5.2 to 10.3 become complicated in opensuse 11.0. We need internet connection to set the IP Address. In the other hand, IP Address should has been set before we can connect to Internet. Yes, we can set it using "ip" command in text mode, but it is clueless for the newbie. I read on internet, it has been fixed now. But again, we need the network connection and internet connection before we can do online update to fix it :) Looping :D I am waiting for openSUSE 11.1. I am sure, it will be better.

In another side, I'm very impressed with the openSUSE KDE 3.5 with improved zypper and YAST comparing to 10.3

Yes, I agree. Compared to opensuse 10.x, YaST is working very fast in opensuse 11.0. -- Salam, Adi Nugroho - http://adi.internux.co.id/ iNterNUX --- http://www.internux.net.id/ Jalan Dr. Sam Ratulangi No. 53J Makassar Tel. +62-411-834690 Fax. +62-411-834691 CDMA:+62-411-6109535 GSM:+62-816-27-9193 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 29 October 2008 22:17:08 Bryen wrote:

And there's also comments, mostly positive, about our Desktop Main Menu (in GNOME at least, not sure if KDE's is distinct from others.)

Not anymore, as the design went upstream with KDE4. Bye, Steve -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org