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OpenSUSE 11.3 Is Here
lukehashj writes "The openSUSE Project is pleased to announce the release of the latest incarnation of openSUSE, with support for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. OpenSUSE 11.3 is packed with new features and updates including SpiderOak to sync your files across the Internet for free, Rosegarden for free editing of your audio files, improved indexing with Tracker, and updates to Mozilla Firefox, and Thunderbird."
Meh, I couldn't get YaST to work my 2 monitors properly. Fedora works.
Yep; where I work (small university dep't) one of the faculty members has it on all his desktops.
My main grumble about OpenSuSE is that, at least until 11.2 -- I'm still fuzzy on the details -- you couldn't actually do an upgrade from SuSE itself using zypper; you had to boot from the DVD and upgrade. I'm used to CentOS and Debian where this sort of thing isn't a mix of hope and prayer or a feature request.
Carousel is a lie!
I'm a very satisfied openSUSE user. I cut my teeth on Slackware back in the day (and still run it wherever stability is really important), and was never really happy with any of the auto-everything distros until I discovered openSUSE a year ago. It has the same balance of reasonably-stable and reasonably-up-to-date that I like about Slackware, combined with a sane out-of-the-box configuration. My MSI Wind U100 netbook is currently running 11.3 right now, and I've had zero problems. If it stays that way for a few days, I'll switch my desktop machine from 11.2 to 11.3.
I understand those sentiments. However, as a Linux advocate, I want Linux to grow and succeed. Part of that means that people need migration paths from Microsoft solutions to Linux solutions. Novell seems to be the one company working on interoperability and migration paths to help people.
In striking the patent deal, it helps protect Novell as they work on Samba, Mono, etc. which in turn open the door for enterprise environments to integrate Linux in a Windows envrionment.
Not to mention, since openSUSE is free (as in beer) you're not financially supporting Novell. If you don't donate or contribute back, you're actually adding to their financial burdern.
openSUSE is also community driven, so you're really spiting the community more than Novell.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
openSUSE is def more aggressive than Ubuntu in integrating the latest packages. Just compare the kernel or gcc versions they've shipped vs Ubuntu on DistroWatch. Among the major distros, openSUSE is less bleeding edge than Fedora. But which major distro isn't? Also, iyam, openSUSE releases are buggier than Ubuntu releases. FWIW, I was a SUSE user for seven years. After I dealt with small inconveniences after every SUSE release (altough I didn't encounter any showstoppers in years), I recently made the switch to Ubuntu. I couldn't be happier.
On a non-production system I made the mistake of editing the httpd file through Yast2. Yast "helped" "fix" my conf file so that Apache would not longer work. I learned not to edit important configuration files through gui tools.
I haven't looked at SuSE linux in almost 4 years.. SLES 9 was very stable.
Ubuntu is on all of my workstations & laptops now, and RHEL is on the servers.
I'm worried that Microsoft could try to claim that it proves Linux as-is infringes on Microsoft patents. However, does Microsoft really want a lengthy SCO-type trial?
Linus has said he's pretty sure there is prior art for anything Microsoft would try to claim.
In the end, it infused Novell with cash (which they needed) and gave Novell security that they wouldn't be sued.
Personally, I don't think Microsoft really can start a massive patent war against Linux on the whole because the EU has already twice dropped massive fines on them, and said if they didn't work on interoperability (which I think led to the Novell deal) the EU would ban the sale of Microsoft products in the EU.
Microsoft's hands are somewhat tied here. They can try a little FUD every now and then, but they can't do much damage.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.