OpenSUSE details emerge

Novell has confirmed rumors that it was about to rebrand and release SUSE Professional as a community project. OpenSUSE will contain “everything you need to get started,” says Novell marketing manager Greg Mancusi-Ungaro.That “everything” includes what Mancusi-Ungaro says are the most important plugins: Java, Flash, Real, Adobe Reader, and fonts. There will also be a version of OpenSUSE that doesn’t include any of the “proprietary bits,” he says. Plans include a retail boxed version of the software, which may include demo versions of other proprietary software, such as MainActor, a video editing suite for Linux.

To clarify what Novell means when it says it is “opening” SUSE, Mancusi-Ungaro says “SUSE Linux is already open from a code perspective. [It] has not been open from a development perspective. Development was closed, beta was closed, and there was little opportunity for users and external developers to help us shape the product. Now there will be, through the OpenSUSE project.”

YaST Online Update (YOU) servers will still be available to OpenSUSE users free of charge, just as they are now for users of SUSE Professional. Mancusi-Ungaro says that Novell’s goal in rebranding and releasing OpenSUSE is not immediate financial gain. “The real goal is to help drive Linux adoption. As Linux adoption goes up, more businesses will use Linux. As more businesses use Linux, more will get their Linux from Novell.”