I think SuSE's problem here is PR. SuSE have their job cut out simply because they are European. RH, being in the US, have a vast market on their doorstep (with free local calls for ftp not exactly a disincentive either). Nobody wants to throw their hats (pardon the pun) into the ring with an unknown - RH started getting their name in the mags, so they start picking up more publicity when third-party companies announce tie-ins, so more publicity, etc.. RH shouldn't be knocked for their corporate vision and market penetration. Rather, it is down to SuSE to start a media blitz of announcements, interviews (everyone can name RH's CEO, but who is the boss of SuSE??) and approaching the hardware vendors to look at producing systems with SuSE pre-installed. I have used both RH & SuSE, and found SuSE 5.2 far easier to work with as a newbie - thank God for Yast !! In fact, SuSE should really angle their promos at the ease of installation & admin thanks to Yast, that way more of the newbie market will be captured by the Chameleon rather than disappearing into the Red Hat tide. Personally I'd love to see SuSE break through into the big time rather than languishing in a backwater. For my own part, we have founded a local Linux user group (Spire Linux User Group, for anyone in the Chesterfield/Sheffield (UK) area) where I evangelise the system, but that's almost preaching to the converted anyhow. What SuSE need to do is to act now, before RH really DO become synonymous with Linux and the other distribs wither on the vine. I'm not comparing RH with M$ directly here (RH Linux is still Linux, but with "bits in"), but isn't this what happened with Win3 ? The software came bundled, wasn't particularly easy to use or effective as an "OS", but still trounced the opposition by sheer market penetration. Perhaps if we'd all bought OS/2 we'd be burning effegies of Lou Gerstner instead. Me, I'm waiting for SuSE 6 to pop through my letter box. I have kernel 2.2.0 on my system anyhow, as well as an updated Samba, StarOffice 5, Wordperfect 8, KDE 1 etc, so the boxed set probably won't do much beyond migrating me to glibc2, and hence RH compatability. BTW, what does "kernel 2.2 ready" actually mean - to me, simply that you've space on /usr/src for another source tree. TTFN Paul. On 10 February 1999 13:46, Chris Martin [SMTP:camst65+@pitt.edu] wrote:
I couldn't agree more with this. I have to admit that despite the fact
SuSE has been very good to me (as a product), the recent total lack of attention to detail surrounding 6.0 and the fact that RedHat is exploding forward give me many doubts about SuSE as a company. Ultimately, in this consumer driven world, the only way products hang around, even when they are good/great like SuSE, is to have the coplementary good/great backing
various support channels and, of course, things like an up to date and comprehensive web site and, generally, a strong and attentive company backing it. And, one must remember the mantra invoked by most strong companies (RedHat?), IMAGE, IMAGE IMAGE Else, like someone on here so correctly said, SuSE becomes the Amiga, the OS2, etc. I like SuSE a lot, but I am feeling less and less like putting up with being in the minority's minority (even given
I have a slightly better product) and with difficulties in getting what I want when I want it (like RPM's! and up to date WebPages). If SuSE doesn't shift into high gear, I fear that even your above average computer user, who appreciates what SuSE has to offer over other distbns, will find
nonetheless considering other distbns for these myriad reasons.
To end this all on a nice note: Go SuSE!
On 10-Feb-99 Zulfiqar Naushad wrote:
I couldn't have said it better.
SuSE , I personally think, is a better product than RH, but seeing that
do not promote their product well in NA really really does hurt them where it hurts most. RH is almost synonymous with Linux, and vice versa. In fact, a newbie friend of mine didn't know that there was a company other than RH
produced Linux [distros].
And yes, the american site of SuSE is a shame!! I mean it. www.suse.de/e is much better and much up to date. Why can't they just mirror the site to
american version, with some changes of course.
ps. Gerry, I noticed that you are a Shaw Wave customer, so am I.
I just wanted to ask where did you get your SuSE package? I got mine from Chapters [Highway7 and Woodbine] for only 45 bucks.
I noticed that Chapters is now carrying the CALDERA OPEN LINUX 1.3 BASE version, but the price is a whopping 110 Canadian Dollars. JEEZ!!!
Gerry Doris wrote:
6.0 has been released in Europe but Suse haven't bothered to update
NA website in months. There is still the same old tired description of what were going to be treated to...and much of it is wrong (ie. will ship with 2.2 kernel, will be totally 2.2 kernel ready...). I've heard rumours that 6.0 is actually shipping in NA but you wouldn't know it from anything Suse does. Most companies would be making press releases all over the place???
Sorry if I'm being overly critical but there are other people working very very hard to get my attention and $$$. If Suse thinks that just tossing a product into the market (even if it's a superior product) will win the day, well, they have a lot to learn.
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------------------------------------------ E-Mail: Chris Martin <camst65@pitt.edu> Date: 10-Feb-99 Time: 08:29:37
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