It took a little longer than expected, but the big day has finally arrived and the openSUSE merged forums are live! From the announcement:

The openSUSE Project is proud to announce the launch of forums.opensuse.org, a merger of the openSUSE Novell support forums, suseforums.net, and suselinuxsupport.de – the three largest English-language dedicated support forums for openSUSE. The merged forums at forums.opensuse.org will provide a single forum for the openSUSE community to find support and discuss openSUSE.

The forums went live on June 9th, a result of the combined effort between the staffs of the suseforums.net, suselinuxsupport.de, and the Novell forums. The project team has been working since early 2008 to merge the forums and provide a unified forum for all English-speaking openSUSE users. The openSUSE Project will be looking at adding other languages to the forums in the very near future.

You can read the full announcement over on news.opensuse.org, or just head over and start reading and posting on the forums. (OK, technically the forums went live yesterday but we opted for discretion as the better part of valor and held off the official announcement until we’d had a day or so to make sure everything was groovy.)

The forum merger is one of the first projects I was introduced to after starting in February. I’ve been participating in (most of) the planning calls and working with the forum staff doing real work for a few months on the tail end of this project, and I can’t say emphatically enough how much I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this project.

From the outside, this project may seem unremarkable — a couple of groups that ran forums on a similar topic got together to do one big forum, where three existed, what’s the big deal? It is, of course, a big deal.

If I hadn’t been an inside observer, I wouldn’t have understood just how much work and merging of cultures was necessary to make this happen. It required a fair amount of technical work and coordination, which shouldn’t be underestimated, but it also required a lot of cooperation between the staff of the three forums. This project required a lot of trust between three different groups, and the willingness for each group to give up 100% control of a project in order to realize a new project that (we hope) will be more than the sum of its parts.

Looking back, I think everyone will agree that the effort was worth it — but it was a long road and everyone involved deserves a big Thank You from the community for making this happen. In particular, I want to thank Keith Kastorff, Kim Groneman, Wolfgang Koller, and Michael Loeffler for their leadership on the project. Also, a big thanks to Rupert Horstkötter, who continued to work as a project manager on this after he went back to school this semester.

Of course, the launch doesn’t mean that the forums are done. You’ll be seeing improvements and new features from the forums team — but the foundation is laid and we now have a home on the Web for openSUSE users to converse and support one another. And just in time for openSUSE 11.0, which is less than 10 days away!

As a side note, I’d like to mention that we did a short podcast a few days ago that’s being cleaned up for Open Audio — so we’ll have that up before too long, and you can listen to the forum leads in glorious stereo sound!

Have some free time on Wednesday, around 13:00 UTC? Go help the openSUSE GNOME team squash some bugs!

I couldn’t help but notice that the Apple camp is having a big shindig today with some announcements that the press and fan blogs are salivating over. I’ve noted a number of times — Apple gets far more coverage in the mainstream and tech press than its market share alone warrants, which in turn seems to be helping drive interest in Apple and increasing the company’s market share. How do we learn from the Cupertino crowd and get the same effect?

Many people credit Apple’s success with creating a slick operating system, and sexy hardware — but they forget that Apple has always been a press darling, even before they unveiled OS X, the iPod, and even their first rebound success, the iMacs. Might be hard to remember, but the iPod has only been around since 2001, the fruit-colored iMacs launched in 1998, and OS X in 2001 as well.

So, what is it that Apple has that other tech companies don’t — and, more importantly, what could the Linux community do to capture the same kind of attention, or can we?

Part of Apple’s media savvy is its exclusiveness — Apple holds its cards close to the vest, and its playing “hard to get,” makes it more interesting.

Obviously, it’s hard to do that for a Linux distro — everything is out in the open, so there’s no real opportunity for a big unveil.

So, I’m curious — what could we do to build the same kind of excitement about Linux (in general) and openSUSE (specifically) with the press to push Linux in front of users who aren’t familiar with Linux, who haven’t yet tried Linux, but might be willing and/or interested?

Just did one of the first (I hope of many!) interviews for openSUSE 11.0 coverage. Even though I’ve been with Novell since February, it’s still a bit odd to be on the other side of the interview. I’m so used to asking the questions…

It was a good interview, though — it’s obvious the reporter had done his homework, none of the questions were total stumpers (”So, can you tell me how many kernel header files have changed since 10.3?” “Uhhh….”) and I think the story will be a good one.

A couple of things I mentioned:

• What’s new in 11.0 from 10.3
• Improvements to the installer and packaging system
• Upcoming openSUSE Build Service 1.0 release and how that will affect openSUSE
• How we’ll measure success (metrics we use to see how openSUSE is growing)
• Hurdles to success (convincing new users to use openSUSE / something other than Windows)
• Roadmap for 11.1, etc.

So, my question to the audience — if you had a chance to talk to a reporter about openSUSE 11.0 (or just openSUSE in general), what would you want to say?

Looks like Kevin Dupuy beat me to the punch in writing about the retail box being ready for pre-order. Retail box? What’s up with that, right? We’re all about the free downloads over here, right? Yes, but… there’s a method to the madness of offering a retail box as well.

First, don’t forget that the retail box has a very long history for SUSE. We want to continue to provide the retail box for long-time users who still want to get openSUSE that way — and for new Linux users who may not be up for downloading openSUSE to take their first shot at installing an OS.

Of course you can get openSUSE 11.0 for free, and I hope millions will, but I’m also hoping this release will do well in retail. One of the fallacies I hear over and over again about the Linux community is that we don’t like to pay for things. My belief is that people will spend money when there’s something of value above and beyond the bits themselves.

So, what’s worthwhile in the retail box above and beyond the bits? The biggies are:

• Printed start-up guide
• 90 days of installation support

And, of course, a DVD that’s already pressed. Now, that’s probably not real compelling for long-time openSUSE users who comfortable downloading and installing openSUSE already.

But I think the retail box is still important for reaching new Linux users, even in the days of broadband access.

First off, it makes life much less complicated for inexperienced users if they can simply trade a few bucks for the DVD media, some printed documentation, and install support. Burning a DVD is trivial for experienced Linux users, but a hassle for many potential Linux users who have never had to figure out how to burn a bootable ISO before. That’s probably a weird perspective for many Linux users, but if you look at it from the viewpoint of someone who may have never installed their own operating system the idea of downloading an ISO and creating a DVD is perhaps a bit more daunting. Especially without a manual or anyone to call if things go kerflooey!

In short – people pay for convenience and a bit of assurance that they’re getting something real. You and I know that the bits are just as fresh whether they’re in tasty downloaded ISO flavor or crunchy pre-made DVD flavor, but some folks just need the packaging to feel good. (And maybe to read the ingredients…)

Secondly, there’s the perception issue. “They’re giving this away? Must not be worth anything.” vs. “Only $60? For all this software? That’s a bargain compared with Windows!” Sounds sort of crazy, I know — but when you’re talking about an unknown quantity, having a low price tag may be more reassuring than being free.

Also, if someone spends money on the box, they’re definitely going to go home and install it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a large percentage of downloaded images are never used.

Oddly, the price attached to the retail box — more than anything else — confers legitimacy to some people. If you’re a FOSS user, then free downloads are par for the course, but a lot of users expect their software to come in a box with a dead-tree manual, and look askance at the concept of just downloading something from a Web site.

If you’re an openSUSE user already and want to persuade a friend or family member that they should try this Linux thing, the retail box may be a better way to go than a burned DVD or CD.

But whether you download or buy the box, make sure you’re set to try openSUSE 11.0 on the 19th, because it’s chock full of awesome no matter how you get it!

I usually don’t need an excuse to get together with open source users and contributors, but I’ll happily accept one if it comes along… and the release of openSUSE 11.0 seems like a pretty good one!

I’m going to be in the Boston area the week of June 16th (through June 20th) and would like to see if we can get a mass of openSUSE users together for a few beverages and pizza to celebrate the launch. If any openSUSE folks have something planned already, let me know — otherwise, please leave a comment or send me an email if you’re interested in getting together.

It’d also be fun to meet up here in sunny Florida when I get back, so if you’re in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, drop me a note or leave a comment if you have something planned or would like to be involved.

Don’t forget, we’re tracking launch parties on the wiki here — sign up if you’re having a launch party! (And if you’re not, why not?)

Do you have a passion for Linux and a desire to promote openSUSE? Would you like to paint the world’s desktops openSUSE green? If so, the openSUSE marketing team wants you!

Some of the things I’d like the marketing team to address:

• Ensure we publicize community events and meetings to maximize turnout and participation
• Create presentations and materials that can be reused to promote openSUSE
• Create artwork, banners, logos, etc. for openSUSE
• Help organize launch parties, local events, installfests, and talks at LUGs
• Support the openSUSE booth at shows
• Give presentations about openSUSE, the openSUSE Build Service, Linux, and other related topics to interested groups

In short, I’m looking for openSUSE contributors (and potential contributors) to help publicize community events more effectively, so anyone who’s interested in contributing to openSUSE knows how they can do so and when meetings are being held, etc — and also to help promote openSUSE to the rest of the world, so everyone has a chance to experience Linux.

I’ve spoken with a number of people in the past few months who have expressed an interest in being part of a marketing team, so here’s your chance to get involved! This is a particularly good opportunity for non-developers who want to find a way to contribute to openSUSE. If you can write, have artistic skills, want to create and/or deliver presentations, staff a booth, or have a knack for organizing, we’d love to have you on the team.

I’d like to start off with a discussion on the newly minted mailing list (thanks, Henne!) and then find a suitable time to hold meetings on IRC to get coordinated.

With openSUSE 11.0 rapidly approaching, there’s plenty to do, so if you’d like to help spread Linux, start your favorite email client and send a subscribe request to opensuse-marketing+subscribe@opensuse.org.

What Linux desktop is most popular?  Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, Mandriva, Slackware, or another distro?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes that he thinks it’s Xandros. Yes, that’s an unexpected result, but he has a point — Xandros is the distro shipped on the Eee PC, and by SJVN’s count, they’ve pumped out about 1.1 million Eee PCs and are still going strong.

Now, by my count, that puts Xandros in about 4th place, but closing rapidly. Ubuntu, unfortunately, doesn’t track — or at least doesn’t release — their installs, but Mark Shuttleworth has been quoted a couple of times as saying that they have 6 million or 8 million users. But they don’t have hard numbers (that I know of) so if we’re conservative and reduce the quoted numbers by half, that still gives us about 3 million Ubuntu users — well ahead of Xandros.

Fedora’s most recent stats say they have about 2 million Fedora 8 users in six months, and our tracking says we have at least 1.5 million openSUSE users on various releases. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that 1.1 million users is impressive, but Xandros probably isn’t in 1st place. Yet.

However — I think the Eee PC’s runaway success shows that the UMPCs are going to be Linux’s path to the mainstream desktop, and we need to be thinking very heavily about that. (Note that we’re on several UMPC devices as well — like HP’s Mini-Note systems that actually have a usable keyboard…)

The new wave of UMPC devices and new mobile devices are a strong opportunity to put Linux in the hands of new users. The resource requirements mean that Linux is well-suited for these devices, and the fact that Linux can be heavily customized also means that Linux is a great choice for manufacturers looking to differentiate themselves from the competition in ways other than hardware and pricing.

But Xandros’ strong showing on UMPCs hasn’t put it in the lead just yet, at least not by my count. Stay tuned, this is going to be a very interesting year for Linux on the desktop…

Over on ZDNet, Jason Perlow says that openSUSE 11.0 is the “Mercedes-Benz to Ubuntu’s Volkswagen.”

The first thing you’ll notice about OpenSUSE 11 is the completely renovated installer program. In fact, I’d have to say that next to Mac, this is probably the most beautiful installer program I have ever seen. Beauty isn’t just skin deep, however — a lot of time and work has been invested to make the SUSE installer faster and easier to use. A complete install, with everything, including GNOME, KDE, XFCE and the development and server packages — sans the multilingual documentation selected on my ThinkPad T60, with a 32-bit 1.8Ghz Core Duo and 2GB of RAM took approximately 40 minutes. That ain’t too shabby for a full DVD worth of stuff.

I am also quite impressed with how fast the package repository management works in the RC1 release. In 10.3, the initial repository setup could take up to a half an hour, and would frequently bomb out.  Not with 11.0 — a dozen repos, which include the vast user-contributed PACKMAN in Germany as well as the newly launched OpenSUSE build service, only took a few minutes to set up. The new software update utility is also significantly faster and much more stable. For those of you who prefer a command line, the “zypper” utility will provide a similar experience to “yum” or “apt-get” on Fedora/Red Hat and Ubuntu/Debian, respectively.

The review is very positive, but I do disagree with Perlow’s assessment that  “at this point in the distro’s evolution, it is not the Linux for the masses or even for the people. It remains true to its roots, which was and still is for power users with systems that can fully take advantage of everything it has to offer.”

Yes, openSUSE 11.0 will still be good for power users and that openSUSE 11.0 is true to its roots — but I think 11.0 will be one of the very best distros for those new to Linux as well. Not necessarily those new to computers but I think Windows defectors will have a relatively easy time of it using openSUSE 11.0.

I’m going to be inflicting 11.0 rc 1 proving that theory over the next few days with my friends and family. What better test subjects than the ones you love?

The openSUSE board is looking for a few good people to help work the election committee. Members of the team will help bootstrap board elections — from gathering election volunteers, helping put the tools in place to hold the election, and announcing the election and its results.

This is being discussed on the opensuse-project list, but since 1) many people who are interested in openSUSE may not be subscribed to opensuse-project and 2) many of the people who are subscribed may miss this thread, I thought I’d bring it up here as well.

Note that if you’re part of the election committee, you can’t stand for election to the board this time around. However, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re helping to ensure that the first election runs smoothly and fairly.

If you’re interested in volunteering, please see the details on http://en.opensuse.org/Board/Election and then send an email to board@opensuse.org.