On the up side, I upgraded to 11.0 shortly after its release and I felt that it was something of an improvement over its predecessors, though I wasn't too impressed with KDE4. Believe me, I gave it a good try, but ended up regressing to KDE3.5 on each system.

It'll be interesting, therefore, to see what 11.1 is actually going to be like when it comes to this update. Again, I'll have to give KDE4 a go, seeing that it is the new version and has been acclaimed by beta testers, but I'll be keep 3.5 on standby just in case.

I've run OpenSuSE for some years now and it's my distro of choice for work and at home. However, I admit I feel dirty whenever I think of the bond between Microsoft and Novell. Whenever anyone asks me to install Linux on their machine I will always choose another disto - typically Fedora or Ubuntu, and I always use Centos for server deployments. I do wonder just how much longer I will be an OpenSuSE user.

We'll see...

If you're looking for a distribution that does KDE4.1 very well and allows you to customise the desktop sufficiently to get rid of the distro branding (my biggest bug bare with OpenSuSe) then have a look at Mandriva.

I know its French and by definition barking mad, but it works beautifully on my T60 - a laptop that has always posed problems for Ubuntu.

Mandriva inc. also have a business-model that should see them operational for the foreseeable future whilst maintaining their corporate dignity. I'm not convinced the same can be said for Canonical these days (see http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/24825.wss).

Servers deserve respect and thus Debian.

Paris, because I hear she's just joined the growing legions of Umbungo fanboys.

It's a shame to see a good distribution such as OpenSuSE sidelined because of its association with Microsoft...I guess its commercially attractive for Novell to get into bed with MS, but I can't see the distribution really getting any more love amongst the open source crowd now that it lacks the EULA....

The other competing and comparatively unsullied distro's such as Fedora and Ubuntu have successfully avoided any need to sign patent deals with MS and seem to have not suffered from that decision and have probably built a much stronger development community around them because of that decision...

I've thought about installing OpenSuSE in the past, but the thought of letting anything tainted by MS onto my system that I've tried so hard to get rid of over the past couple of years stops me from doing it...

I have used suse since 9.1 and always loved it. use it at work and at home.

Looking forward to installing 11.1 on my new lenovo S10e netbook.

Meh - yeah blah MS bad

But them working together might bring Linux's biggest blocker to an end - cross compatibility.

I dual boot at the moment, and the only reason I have to keep my Vista partition (and spend most of my time there) is because Linux just dosnt run well with Windows binaries.

(And before you yell WINE at me, or start talking emulators, I like my apps running FULL speed and without randomly crashing or with features acting up as they do under wine). I appricate that for some people you can live without windows things, but personally (and like alot of other people) we cants be doing without our windows binaries.

C'mon. Don't you know the old adage ... "Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."?

Or how about ... "... turn the other cheek." ?

The point is that Mickeysoft is still the 800 lb Gorilla in the room and sometimes you get farther playing nice than trying to compete head on.

Lets get real. Microsoft is coming to terms that they can't stop Linux. So if you want to exploit them, play nice and make a deal. Trying to fight them is going to be a losing battle. Linux companies don't have the $$$ to waste on lawyers and the other guy has more than enough bucks to keep them in court and bankrupt them.

I've had Michelangelo paintings in my house for some years now and he's my Italian Renaissance painter of choice for work and at home.

However, I admit I feel dirty whenever I think of the bond between Michelangelo and other men.

I do wonder just how much longer I will be an admirer of the Sistine Chapel.

We'll see...

I know it's petty and makes me look like one of *those* Linux guys, but I just can't bring myself to use SuSE anymore since their Faustian deal with MS. I used to really like SuSE, used it for several years. Heck, I used to run Netware back in the day, and was really excited when Novell acquired the most popular distro in Europe. I thought it was a sign that Linux had finally arrived. Unfortunately, Novell seems to be run by incompetent nitwits who can't do marketing for crap in spite of having fantastic mature products and sell out to their arch enemy of pretty much forever just to staunch their hemorrhaging cash flow. So sorry, Novell/SuSE, until you shake off this "arrangement" with MS, it's over between us. I might come back if you give up your unlikely bedfellow, but I'll have to be convinced you really mean it. It's not you, it's me. No wait, it is you.

Suse is a good distro. Really stable code and level headed choices made for additions.

So I am hoping that 11.1 has an option to install KDE 3.x not 4.x. KDE 4.x is an incomplete product: KDE 3.x is extremely customizable and flexible, KDE 4.x is not.

I used KDE 4 on Fedora for a few weeks lately and I had to back out: too many of the things that I wanted to change behaviour of - nay, even the color of - cannot be changed in KDE 4.

Frigging around with Linux to get business apps to work (that means MS) is a real pain in the arse, so much so that I stay with XP, much as I hate it.

Getting into bed with the enemy is a good idea, especially since so many versions of linux are still nowhere near enough for the business user...unless you count call centre monkeys. Other more evolved business being need to run Outlook, perhaps Project and Visio, and running under Wine is too difficult and flaky, also emulation on a light laptop is a non-starter for me.

Whether this relationship brings any such fruits to bear, I have no idea, but it is the only glimmer of hope....otherwise it is going to be regretably Windows 7 for me.

@AC: Ah yes, good old Michelangelo. Eventually agreed to paint the ceiling on the Sistine Chapel, but downright refused to wash the windows. :)

@Chris Harden and Ian Michael Gumby: The issue is when the interoperability between Novell and Microsoft is not shared with the rest of the FOSS community. OpenSuSE and it's big-little brother SLED/SLES rely on FOSS to exist. If the deal means they take existing code and tweak it to run better with Windows, but don't throw back everything they've done then that could give trouble to other Linux distributions trying to make their way without selling their soul to the devil (so to speak). Now I'm not saying this does happen, but you can be sure Microsoft is persuading Novell to do things *their* way.

I've been using Suse since 7.2, and remain fond of Yast. Probably because I grok how it works.

I ditched 10.2 because it went all politically correct and removed drivers for my wifi and graphics, but tried 11.0 on my netbook. That, too, came without proprietary drivers but it did include scripts for fetching them and my netbook has wired ethernet. If only I hadn't needed 3rd party web sites to tell me what to look for it would have been even more impressive.

I'm happy with the pragmatism of getting into bed with M$, but I did think that it was silly to give them money for no good reason. I'd be up in arms if I were a shareholder.

I agree that Mandriva is probably the best thought out and supported distro, but it works best if you give them money and the 'barrow boy' style of marketting where the minute you paid for something they tried to sell you the same thing, or a better one, and bombarded my mailbox... well it put me right off.

Suse, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora are all fine products. But then, so is Mint, Knoppix, Elive, Sabayon, PClinuxOS, CentOS.... it doesn't seem worth picking between them, and people who have 'views' about Novell have plenty of alternatives to choose from. Unlike Windows, which seems to be sold by only one vendor as far as I can make out.

"So I am hoping that 11.1 has an option to install KDE 3.x not 4.x. KDE 4.x is an incomplete product: KDE 3.x is extremely customizable and flexible, KDE 4.x is not."

According to the openSUSE site, the distro is supposed to be supplied with KDE4.1, KDE3.5 and whatever Gnome it is that is around at present. The openSUSE website gives a few screenshots of the installation screen which, from what I see, is just as good as the 11.0 but has a few changes that would have made things a lot easier for me back when 11.0 was released.

Actually, my biggest gripe about the installation side of things is that I still prefer the old multiple CD installation setup as this works better with some older machines including at least one that I still use. Alas, nothing since 10.2. Don't get me wrong, the LiveCD is a good bit of kit but assuming that every installation is going to be online is a mistake that Muckysoft often make.

That bloated steaming pile of shit is what makes SuSE crap!

The one thing I have discovered in my career in IT is that Novell software gives me tourettes!

"Or how about ... "... turn the other cheek." ?"

I'm no frigging Christian! If slapped, I won't turn any cheek; I'll kick ye in the balls!

Well, I used to run SuSE (and then OpenSuSE), but switched to Ubuntu, a little after the deal. But it was more of a coincidence. I had an old (9.3) version of SuSE at work (was changing HD) and a slightly broken install of OpenSuSE 10 at home, so I had to reinstall anyway. Gave Ubuntu a try and it was OK, so stuck with it for a while.

The MS deal brings mixed feelings, sure; but thinking more rationally, I don't mind it after all. So what they are working together? Hating them just because of being MS, even considering all their immoral practices? Well, as a matter of fact I do. But, on the other hand, OpenSuSE or SLED are still (mostly) FOSS, and that's what matters. If Novell started using MS practices and stuff like that, THEN I think it would be necessary to be against them in practice. So far, they are following the Way of the Free, so what's to complain about, really, besides puritanical considerations?

A bunch of whiners because Novell got into bed with Microsoft? It's not like Microsoft put it's name all over the OS. It doesn't say Microsoft OpenSUSE 11.1 (c) 2008 Microsoft Inc.

You may not like it but I'm sure businesses like the fact that Windows and SUSE can communicate better than another Linux distro.

Oh, dear ,what a huge conundrum.

on one hand Novell completely buried Darl McBride and SCO. So they are Gods.

But on the other hand, they don't hate Microsoft with the blind passion shared by all right thinking patriots. So they are Satan on earth.

It must be like finding out that Santa Claus is an active member of Al Quaeda.

DId they ditch Yast? No they didn't. However, I'm a little curious as to when you last used it as I have no problems with the more recent versions of Yast, whatever the past versions might have been like for bloat. It's certainly better under 11.0 than it was under the various incarnations of V10 which was veeeeeryyyyy sloooooooowwwww.

Like Robert E A Harvey, I've used SuSE since version 7 times. Prior to that I used the better version of those that were around, namely Caldera, aka SCO. I dumped them in an instant when they started their antics. I went to SuSE & found on my then box that none of the other Linux versions could even run on the motherboard I had. I couldn't get any of them to install but YAST just put in its magic, loaded the OS & it worked. Eventually LiLO died but that was to do with the motherboard which was also the reason that none of the other versions were installing.

That Novell paid for its connection with Microsux craps me off but until any of the other versions are as good as SuSE, I won't be using them. I tried Ubuntu but don't like Gnome. I certainly don't like being stuck with the desktop in the way M$ does. Using Ubuntu with KDE wasn't that good an experience but I haven't tried Kubuntu yet. One day perhaps.

For those who don't like Yast, I wonder what the dilemma is. Perhaps it's that SuSE attempted to create a management program for all computer controls in one spot & some of you creative Linux-ers want it text-based or separate or something. For me & whilst I'm a programmer I don't give a rats about learning the ins & outs of every control feature, I love knowing that the controls are in one place. I think Yast does a great job. There's been failings in the past but let me know of which of the various distros haven't screwed-up several times. I think you'll find there ain't any of them.

Perhaps the end of days will come when the behemoth becomes ignored. They'll probably start suing everyone just as they did when they financed SCO. I don't think they will though because rumour has it that there are certain parts of XP that has stolen scripts in it & I don't think M$ is immune to being forced to open their software. That would be a problem because then they would have to open up their whole OS.

The fact that Novell has dumped the EULA has got to be a good thing. Mind you I like that I can just install stuff & it works.