openSUSE, ( ), is a general purpose operating system developed by the openSUSE Project. After acquiring SUSE Linux in January 2004, Novell decided to release the SUSE Linux Professional product as a 100% open source project, involving the community in the development process. The initial release was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0, and as of June 2008 the current stable release is openSUSE 11.0.

Beyond the distribution, the openSUSE Project provides a web portal for community involvement. The community assists in developing openSUSE collaboratively with representatives from Novell by contributing code through the openSUSE Build Service, writing documentation, designing artwork, fostering discussion on open mailing lists and in Internet Relay Chat channels, and improving the openSUSE site through its wiki interface. Novell employed over 500 developers working on SUSE in 2004. Novell markets openSUSE as the best, easiest distribution for all users.

Like most distributions it includes both a default graphical user interface (GUI) and a command line interface option; it allows the user (during installation) to select which GUI they are comfortable with (either KDE, GNOME or XFCE), and supports thousands of software packages across the full range of open source development.

History

The SUSE Linux distribution was originally a German translation of Slackware Linux. The Slackware distribution (maintained by Patrick Volkerding) was initially based largely on Softlanding Linux System. In mid-1992, SLS was founded by Peter MacDonald, and was the first comprehensive distribution to contain elements such as X and TCP/IP.

S.u.S.E was founded in late 1992 as a UNIX consulting group, which among other things regularly released software packages that included SLS and Slackware, and printed UNIX/Linux manuals. S.u.S.E is an acronym for the German phrase "lang: Software- und System-Entwicklung" ("Software and system development"), however in English speaking communities a rumour still circulates that the name is a tribute to the German computer pioneer Konrad Zuse, whose name in English has similar pronunciation. They released the first CD version of SLS/Slackware in 1994, under the name S.u.S.E Linux 1.0. It later integrated with the Jurix distribution by Florian La Roche, to release the first really unique S.u.S.E Linux 4.2 in 1996. Over time, SuSE Linux incorporated many aspects of Red Hat Linux (e.g., using RPMs and /etc/sysconfig). In a move to more effectively reach its business audience, SuSE introduced the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in 2001, and consecutively changed the company name to SUSE Linux in September 2003 as a part of its overall new branding strategy, as announced by SUSE's marketing VP Uwe Schmid.