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SuSe does offer free downloads (install from FTP, and a Live CD version). Some packages are left out due to licensing concerns.

http://www.suse.com/us/private/download/suse_linux /index.html

Right now, there is no chance to try it out without paying 80 bucks.

What about their FTP server? I thought that you could create an install disk and then pull down a working system from their server, for free. In fact, I found the link in just 2 or 3 clicks on their site.

*scratches head*
There isn't?

Although, admitidly you need to install from a FTP, or run it straight from a CD... but it can be done.

You can try it out if you do an installation right from an FTP server. Granted, ISOs would be nicer, plus the FTP install doesn't come with all the extra software found in the Professional bundle, but still...

If it has any chance to compete with windows, they should consider Redhat's strategy of allowing a free download (especially for home users) and charging for support. Right now, there is no chance to try it out without paying 80 bucks.

I am here today to dicuss my discust with Gentoo Linux! Why can't they make a version of XFree86 that works! I mean, all of a fing sudden gentoo fucking crashes when startx ran. I even reinstalled it three times with different versions of X and it's FUBAR. Its not my hardware, its gentoo and its policy putting unofficial (and therefore unsupported) patches for no reason into their ebuilds. I have now threw by gentoo disc in the bin and have installed a REAL linux distribution.

It's not linux that is not ready for the desktop, it is half assed distros like gentoo, debian and gnu/hurd that are not ready for the desktop.

I am now comforatble on my shiny new gnome 2.3.1 desktop which unlike the gentoo version, dosen't slow to a halt when a cron job is runining.

Support Qualtity, it may not be free, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

And you wondered why it was forked today.....

-1, troll^H^H^Hue.

I am here today to dicuss my discust with Gentoo Linux! Why can't they make a version of XFree86 that works! I have now threw by gentoo disc in the bin and have installed a REAL linux distribution.

It's not linux that is not ready for the desktop, it is half assed distros like gentoo, debian and gnu/hurd that are not ready for the desktop. Come on, why should I care if Debian has the ultimate package system when it ships with 2.2 kernel that makes you edit about 50,000 text files just to get twm working. Let alone a fully featured gnome desktop complete with sound, dri AND printer working. Wake me up when all you have to do to install gentoo is

1. Insert CD into drive
2. Wait 1 hour for it to compile
3. Come back to fully featured gnome desktop.

I am now comforatble on my shiny new gnome desktop which unlike the gentoo version, dosen't slow to a halt when a cron job is runining.

Support Qualtity distros, it may not be free, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I am here today to dicuss my discust with Gentoo Linux! Why can't they make a version of XFree86 that works! I have now threw by gentoo disc in the bin and have installed a REAL linux distribution.

It's not linux that is not ready for the desktop, it is half assed distros like gentoo, debian and gnu/hurd that are not ready for the desktop.

I am now comforatble on my shiny new gnome desktop which unlike the gentoo version, dosen't slow to a halt when a cron job is runining.

Support Qualtity, it may not be free, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I am here today to dicuss my discust with Gentoo Linux! Why can't they make a version of XFree86 that works! I have now threw by gentoo disc in the bin and have installed a REAL linux distribution.

It's not linux that is not ready for the desktop, it is half assed distros like gentoo, debian and gnu/hurd that are not ready for the desktop.

I am now comforatble on my shiny new gnome desktop which unlike the gentoo version, dosen't slow to a halt when a cron job is runining.

Support Qualtity, it may not be free, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I am here today to dicuss my discust with Gentoo Linux! Why can't they make a version of XFree86 that works! I have now threw by gentoo disc in the bin and have installed a REAL linux distribution.

It's not linux that is not ready for the desktop, it is half assed distros like gentoo, debian and gnu/hurd that are not ready for the desktop.

I am now comforatble on my shiny new gnome desktop which unlike the gentoo version, dosen't slow to a halt when a cron job is runining.

Support Qualtity, it may not be free, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I am here today to dicuss my discust with Gentoo Linux! Why can't they make a version of XFree86 that works! I have now threw by gentoo disc in the bin and have installed a REAL linux distribution.

It's not linux that is not ready for the desktop, it is half assed distros like gentoo, debian and gnu/hurd that are not ready for the desktop.

I am now comforatble on my shiny new gnome desktop which unlike the gentoo version, dosen't slow to a halt when a cron job is runining.

Support Qualtity, it may not be free, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Europe would be OK if this just involve those pesky software patents, but I don't think anyone is sure just what is intailed here. Europe recognises copyrights, and I'm not sure but probably trade secrets also.

Just remember if you want to run Linux on an IBM system 390, you get it from SuSE, a German company It must have taken a lot of close cooperation between SuSE and IBM to do this and I'm sure if IBM gets burned for a billion, then SuSE would be next on the hit list.

Why can't I just simply get an RPM that WORKS!

Try looking here?
Mozilla + Java has worked out-of-the-box in all releases I've tried, I think since 6.4 three or four years ago.

Do I lose the license when the maintenance agreement expires?

No. By purchasing the Maintenance Program once, you obtain the license for the continuous utilization of all components of SuSE Linux as described above.

It's not an irrelevant question. There statement of May 15 is not enough.

Not quite right. You may only run the software on a computer which you have a maintainance contract for. So it is an initial $99 plus at best $899 for every 10 stations you want to run it on.

See here.

Can someone please explain? Thanks.

-renard

As others have stated, the $600 is the cost for the media and maintenance for 5 seats, which also includes the rights to connect to their groupware and enterprise server without requiring an existing client access license. The cost for five client access licenses for OpenExchange server is $249, per this page.

We switched from RedHat to SuSE several years ago.

Our reasons for making the transition were:

• SuSE's stable enterprise/server editions are far less expensive than RedHat's
• DB2 UDB and Oracle are both Certified for SuSE enterprise server editions
• More specialised sub-distros available if you don't feel like twiddling and paring down the full distro yourself.
• I supported RH from 1997-1999 (IRIX, SunOS, Solaris, BSD 4.2 and 4.3 before that) My opinion is that the support database for SuSE is better than RH, and that SuSE's support is much, much better -- and not nearly as often required -- compared to SGI's or Sun Microsystems.
• When we made the transition from RH to SuSE, SuSE was streets ahead of RH in security. While not entirely up-to-date, Marc Heuse's article is a succinct and readable yet technically comprehensive introduction.

• While RH is the market leader in the US, SuSE is the market leader in the EU. So going with the Open Source market leader because that's where the best support and latest developments are going to come from doesn't give you an answer.
• While Oracle is doing a lot of work directly with RH, IBM is doing a lot of work directly with SuSE. So going with the distro that has support from a large and highly skilled corporate because that's where the best support and latest developments are going to come from -- also doesn't give you an answer.
• Both use RPM, so if you're used to doing RPM from the command line, there is simply no change. It's very rare that I run across an RPM or a source package built for RedHat that has even minor glitches on SuSE.

As we're primarily an AS/400 development shop, with Linux just providing part of the infrastructure, it's been fortuitous that our choice, SuSE, has turned out to be the most stable distro for the AS/400 and PPC platforms.

We dealt with no salesperson in either case. Just bought the disks and support packages we felt we needed, and based our judgement entirely on what versions of what were already available on the latest release. Possibly because the RH and SuSE distro cycles were out-of-synch with each other, the latest SuSE had the more recent patch levels when we made the transition. But every time I've checked, this seems to be the case.

We switched from RedHat to SuSE several years ago.

Our reasons for making the transition were:

• SuSE's stable enterprise/server editions are far less expensive than RedHat's
• DB2 UDB and Oracle are both Certified for SuSE enterprise server editions
• More specialised sub-distros available if you don't feel like twiddling and paring down the full distro yourself.
• I supported RH from 1997-1999 (IRIX, SunOS, Solaris, BSD 4.2 and 4.3 before that) My opinion is that the support database for SuSE is better than RH, and that SuSE's support is much, much better -- and not nearly as often required -- compared to SGI's or Sun Microsystems.
• When we made the transition from RH to SuSE, SuSE was streets ahead of RH in security. While not entirely up-to-date, Marc Heuse's article is a succinct and readable yet technically comprehensive introduction.

• While RH is the market leader in the US, SuSE is the market leader in the EU. So going with the Open Source market leader because that's where the best support and latest developments are going to come from doesn't give you an answer.
• While Oracle is doing a lot of work directly with RH, IBM is doing a lot of work directly with SuSE. So going with the distro that has support from a large and highly skilled corporate because that's where the best support and latest developments are going to come from -- also doesn't give you an answer.
• Both use RPM, so if you're used to doing RPM from the command line, there is simply no change. It's very rare that I run across an RPM or a source package built for RedHat that has even minor glitches on SuSE.

As we're primarily an AS/400 development shop, with Linux just providing part of the infrastructure, it's been fortuitous that our choice, SuSE, has turned out to be the most stable distro for the AS/400 and PPC platforms.

We dealt with no salesperson in either case. Just bought the disks and support packages we felt we needed, and based our judgement entirely on what versions of what were already available on the latest release. Possibly because the RH and SuSE distro cycles were out-of-synch with each other, the latest SuSE had the more recent patch levels when we made the transition. But every time I've checked, this seems to be the case.

If RH is pricing itself out of the market you have other choices.

if I could get one that ran Windows or RedHat (or Mandrake) I'd think about it

I'm so sick of people complaining that Microsoft's OS software is so expensive. I spent $150 for the OEM copy of Windows XP Pro that I own. How so, you say? Well, you can buy it here. If you're interested in XP Home, you can get it here for $90. For comparison, since I am also a Mac OS X user and a SUSE/Redhat user as well, you can buy Mac OS X (Jaguar) for about $120 here (I paid $130 when it came out). Furthermore, my copy of SUSE 8.1 Pro Edition cost $80 here and my copy of Redhat 9.0 Pro cost $150 here. The non-Pro editions of SUSE and Redhat are cheaper, of course, but come with less packages and less support. The bottom line: if you're going to spend money for your OS, you will probably spend an average of $80-$150 per release depending on your needs, regardless of the OS vendor. Otherwise, you can continue being an unsupportive hyprocrite freeloader and spend $0 by using your favorite P2P app and get whatever OS you want.

I'd suggest this as a suitable patch for Windows. Ever since I installed it I haven't had a single complaint about MS products.

Max

You completely missed the point, congratulations.

Speaking of getting informed, SuSE is a German company.

From:

http://www.suse.com/us/company/press/press_release s/archive03/munich.html

City of Munich Replaces Windows with Linux

May 28th 2003

The city council of Munich today made a key decision to deploy the open source operating system Linux instead of alternative operating systems. This initiative will see Germany's third largest city migrate 14,000 desktop and notebook computers to Linux. Their objective is to deploy information technology that stimulates more commercial and technological flexibility at a lower cost to the public sector. Although the council has not made a decision on its choice of vendor, Linux distributor SuSE AG and IBM Germany will be participating in the resulting contract bid.

Richard Seibt, CEO SuSE Linux: "Today, the city of Munich announced a courageous, momentous decision to choose the right technology at the right time. Courageous because it is not always easy to decide against the status quo -- especially in the face of the tremendous pressures we know can be brought to bear. Momentous because we believe this truly marks a watershed moment for Linux. The city clearly sees Linux not just as cost savings over costly, proprietary software, but also as the best tool for the job -- bringing security, stability, flexibility and privacy, not available to them before."

Walter Raizner, Country General Manager IBM Germany: "In the public sector in Germany we have seen a variety of new implementations of open standards-based software such as Linux. And worldwide, more than 75 IBM government customers - including agencies in France, Spain, UK, Australia, Mexico, the United States and Japan - have now embraced open computing and Linux to save costs, consolidate workloads, increase efficiency and enact e-government transformation. With Munich's decision, one thing is clear - it's open season for open computing. Linux represents freedom and flexibility. This is essential in e-government - they need more flexibility to serve their constituencies better and faster, and freedom of choice to do it at less cost to the public. Munich is leading the way."

Munich will be the first city with over 1 Million inhabitants that is run by Linux

Heise has the story (Babelfish may help you)

Short facts are: The actual vote will occur on wednesday, but the SPD and Green party hold 43 out of 80 seats and have both committed to vote in favour of Linux to be used in the government of Munich, a city of about 2 million inhabitants.

The main reason for the migration was "strategic-quality reasons" and to support competition in software, not cost, which was said to be about the same for Linux and Windows.

About 14000 client computers are involved.

The used distribution will be SuSE, but IBM is also involved. OpenOffice will be used as office suite.

The earlier happenings are also quite exciting:

• Study suggests that Linux is cheaper than Windows for Munich: - story, Babelfish
• Microsoft CEO Ballmer interrupts his skiing trip to talk to Munich politians: story, Babelfish
• Suddently a new study says that because Microsoft gave huge discounts, Windows is now better than Linux for Munich: story, Yoda
• IBM also modifies their offer (see main story above)

Bow down and worship the goddess of BSD!

You Linux-using fags cannot possibly comprehend the beauty of the one true goddess!

See how a true believer honors her. Take another look at the proper way to show your devotion to the divine babe of BSD!

There is truly no hope for Linux as long as the lovely Ceren smiles upon us!

Look at the SuSE end user! He loves the GPL!

Go to their website
and see for yourself. Doesn't look like SCO even talked to them about
this yet...at least that's what SUSE is claiming:

SuSE responds to
latest SCO actions

The UnitedLinux code base -- jointly
designed and developed by SuSE Linux, Turbolinux, Conectiva and SCO --
will continue to be supported unconditionally by SuSE Linux. We will
honor all UnitedLinux commitments to customers and partners, regardless
of any actions that SCO may take or even allegations they may make.

SCO's actions are again indeed
curious. We have asked SCO for clarification of their public
statements, SCO has declined. We are not aware, nor has SCO made any
attempt to make us aware, of any specific unauthorized code in any SuSE
Linux product. As a matter of policy, we have diligent processes for
ensuring that appropriate licensing arrangements (open source or
otherwise) are in place for all code used in our products.

SuSE responds to latest SCO actions

The UnitedLinux code base -- jointly designed and developed by SuSE Linux, Turbolinux, Conectiva and SCO -- will continue to be supported unconditionally by SuSE Linux. We will honor all UnitedLinux commitments to customers and partners, regardless of any actions that SCO may take or even allegations they may make.

SCO's actions are again indeed curious. We have asked SCO for clarification of their public statements, SCO has declined. We are not aware, nor has SCO made any attempt to make us aware, of any specific unauthorized code in any SuSE Linux product. As a matter of policy, we have diligent processes for ensuring that appropriate licensing arrangements (open source or otherwise) are in place for all code used in our products.

What I find annoying is that material about other products seems to get kicked off quickly from the front pages of many sites and some even disappear. This is unfortunate because information is essential in making informed decisions. Microsoft products have been unable to survive in a free market nor compete on technical merits, and then there are the image problems, security issues, fines.

The market has already changed and Microsoft has not. RedHat, Mandrake, Suse, and OS X are all far easier to install, use and maintain. And these are more secure. In other words, they are for all practical purposes, drop in replacements for most home and many business desktops, minus the games. For games, there's Playstation and Gamecube. The market has already said what it has to say about xbox

The U.S. economy is hurting so badly that deflation is now a danger. Ballmer, Allchin, and Gates' insistence on trying to keep a dead company afloat is just causing further harm. Enough all ready, if the executives haven't exercised their options by now, tough. Businesses and agencies now realize that by going with the better (i.e. non-Microsoft) systems, not only do they gain more flexibility, but can spend their time working rather than repair.

What competitor?

Redhat
Suse Mandrake
To name a few...

If I remember correctly, those are all business who sell's Linux based operating system.
Direct competitors to Microsoft I would think...

If you only have one machine or get bored easily, I can see why you would want the ISO images to minimize the actual install time. The SuSE install disk can be found at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/boot/boot .iso, but be warned that they don't have the 8.2 directory tree up yet. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/ always has the most recent online version though. Also note that this is the i386 build. If you need another platform (like SPARC or PPC) then look at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/.

If you only have one machine or get bored easily, I can see why you would want the ISO images to minimize the actual install time. The SuSE install disk can be found at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/boot/boot .iso, but be warned that they don't have the 8.2 directory tree up yet. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/ always has the most recent online version though. Also note that this is the i386 build. If you need another platform (like SPARC or PPC) then look at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/.

If you only have one machine or get bored easily, I can see why you would want the ISO images to minimize the actual install time. The SuSE install disk can be found at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/boot/boot .iso, but be warned that they don't have the 8.2 directory tree up yet. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/ always has the most recent online version though. Also note that this is the i386 build. If you need another platform (like SPARC or PPC) then look at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/.

Sometimes I wish there was the equivalent of Windows Update for Linux.

SuSE has a utility called YaST Online Update (YOU), which has similar functionality to Windows Update. Works great for me.

I'm sure other distros have similar features. Do some looking around on Google or Distrowatch.

Sometimes I wish there was the equivalent of Windows Update for Linux.

SuSE has a utility called YaST Online Update (YOU), which has similar functionality to Windows Update. Works great for me.

I'm sure other distros have similar features. Do some looking around on Google or Distrowatch.

SuSE offers a live-evaluation disc image for free here. It's not a complete install but it'll give you an idea of what SuSE's all about.

You are allowed to do a full install via ftp (see instructions here). Sure it's not as easy but an FTP install will build some more of that character I'm always hearing about.

I have to say though, YaST is probably the best thing I've seen so far for a Migrating Windows User. It is powerful, flexible, and intuitive for anyone used to Control Panels. SuSE also automatically does some intelligent things like password protect single-user mode (unlike RedHat). IMHO, it's the best new user distribution. Sure, I use Gentoo on my machine but then I'm captivated by watching packages compile for 72 hours straight. -grin-

SuSE offers a live-evaluation disc image for free here. It's not a complete install but it'll give you an idea of what SuSE's all about.

You are allowed to do a full install via ftp (see instructions here). Sure it's not as easy but an FTP install will build some more of that character I'm always hearing about.

I have to say though, YaST is probably the best thing I've seen so far for a Migrating Windows User. It is powerful, flexible, and intuitive for anyone used to Control Panels. SuSE also automatically does some intelligent things like password protect single-user mode (unlike RedHat). IMHO, it's the best new user distribution. Sure, I use Gentoo on my machine but then I'm captivated by watching packages compile for 72 hours straight. -grin-

Suse FTP install

It is not as nice as having an ISO available, but I haven't installed *BSD from a CD in ages, and I hear Suse's FTP install is even easier and more reliable.

The hardware requirements page suggests that it does:

SuSE Linux comes with drivers for common cards including the following:
ATI: Radeon 9000/9500/9700
nVidia: GeForce 4, GeForce FX
Matrox: G450/G550

I have an 8500DV, which also works (though I haven't tried the special features like video-capture or firewire yet).

Bow down and worship the goddess of BSD!

You Linux-using fags cannot possibly comprehend the beauty of the one true goddess!

See how a true believer honors her. Take another look at the proper way to show your devotion to the divine babe of BSD!

There is truly no hope for Linux as long as the lovely Ceren smiles upon us!

Your post implys, IMHO correctly, that no matter the steps taken to protect software against piracy, there will be piracy. However, there will emerge in the end a need to by software from a vendor in order to get support. Hmmmmm...

Seems to me there's a few companies out there who do something very much like that. Seems we have the answer for Microsoft, don't we?

Soko

Does it run Linux? :)

After browsing through their ftp server for a little bit, I discovered that 8.2 won't be available until April 11. Latest version that's available right now is 8.1

There are more screenshots than in this review.

Recently, someone pointed me to Suse's Open Exchange Server and I was blown away by it. I have quite a few small (2-3 people) offices that are REALLY wanting a way to share calenders and other stuff. MS's Exchange server is WAY TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE. It would seem just a simple computer running Suse's OE would be perfect! However...

I am really not a linux expert. Ive run Red Hat for years and I like it -- but its not my primary box. It just sits for web serving and ftp. Ill open up VNC and browse through it when Im doing some random stuff that eats up CPU time on this box and Ill also use it when Im at the library or something and I want to use Phoenix -- but thats about it. So, I dunno if I can handle the switch to SuSE.

Also, the other problem I have is with SuSE support. Recently they started offering This evaluation program for OE server. It sounds like $20 gets OE server and I can install it on a box running SuSE and go to town, assuming I can RTFM. I think this would be GREAT! It gives me a chance to demo this out and decide if I want to try to sell it to the small offices I do work for. However, as stupid as it sounds, $30 (after shipping) is hard to come by as a college student. So, I sent them an e-mail asking 1: How long it takes to get shipped out post order and 2: Could I just pay the $20 and download the isos? That was Monday and today is Sunday, and I didn't receive anything back from them. Considering part of the $1,250 paid for OE Server is a year of support from Suse, I need to know that they will be there.

I'd read the article posted, but it has already been slashdoted :( Are there some good community sites out there for Suse? People that actually use OE Server?

PS -- If anyone knows of any alternatives to OE Server, please let me know! I need to be able to share calenders and address books for clients running outlook 2k/XP/2k3. If you know of a way to make iCal and vCards work and well for outlook, I could even live with that.

Recently, someone pointed me to Suse's Open Exchange Server and I was blown away by it. I have quite a few small (2-3 people) offices that are REALLY wanting a way to share calenders and other stuff. MS's Exchange server is WAY TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE. It would seem just a simple computer running Suse's OE would be perfect! However...

I am really not a linux expert. Ive run Red Hat for years and I like it -- but its not my primary box. It just sits for web serving and ftp. Ill open up VNC and browse through it when Im doing some random stuff that eats up CPU time on this box and Ill also use it when Im at the library or something and I want to use Phoenix -- but thats about it. So, I dunno if I can handle the switch to SuSE.

Also, the other problem I have is with SuSE support. Recently they started offering This evaluation program for OE server. It sounds like $20 gets OE server and I can install it on a box running SuSE and go to town, assuming I can RTFM. I think this would be GREAT! It gives me a chance to demo this out and decide if I want to try to sell it to the small offices I do work for. However, as stupid as it sounds, $30 (after shipping) is hard to come by as a college student. So, I sent them an e-mail asking 1: How long it takes to get shipped out post order and 2: Could I just pay the $20 and download the isos? That was Monday and today is Sunday, and I didn't receive anything back from them. Considering part of the $1,250 paid for OE Server is a year of support from Suse, I need to know that they will be there.

I'd read the article posted, but it has already been slashdoted :( Are there some good community sites out there for Suse? People that actually use OE Server?

PS -- If anyone knows of any alternatives to OE Server, please let me know! I need to be able to share calenders and address books for clients running outlook 2k/XP/2k3. If you know of a way to make iCal and vCards work and well for outlook, I could even live with that.

Evaluation version available for order ( no download ) here at a cost of $19.95