We need an openSUSE Ambassador to rock the Central Pennsylvania Open Source Conference (CPOSC) in October! CPOSC is a small, one-day event about “all things open source” to be held on October 17, 2009 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

CPOSC organizers are looking for openSUSE contributors to speak at the event, so if you’re local to the area — please do put in a speaking proposal. The CFP is open through July 10th.We’re looking for openSUSE enthusiasts to spread the word at CPOSC, so be sure to sign up if you’re nearby.

If you need help prepping a talk about openSUSE, ask on the openSUSE Marketing mailing list — plenty of people on the marketing list would be happy to help proof and help develop the talk. If you need more info on CPOSC, ping the organizers or drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch.

We released the trademark guidelines last week and have gotten a fair amount of feedback (thanks!) and a few requests for using the mark outside the automatic use cases set out in the trademark guidelines.

Those requests are being considered right now - but I wanted to make one thing very clear (again): If you’d like to use the openSUSE marks, but the use case in the guidelines says that you would need to remove the marks, that doesn’t mean there’s no hope of using the marks!

If you want to use the openSUSE marks and don’t have automatic permission in the guidelines, please send an email to permission@novell.com and ask about it. The worst thing that can happen is that you’d be denied permission - but if  the marks are being used in a manner that reflects well on the openSUSE Project and helps spread openSUSE, there’s a good chance that permission would be granted - but that your use case is one where it’s felt that it should be reviewed first.

The permission process is relatively painless, and we really do want to be as open as possible - so don’t assume that because the guidelines don’t grant automatic use that you wouldn’t be granted use on review.

A lot of good feedback so far on the newly minted trademark policy. Thanks to all the community folks who’ve responded so far and made comments.

As we mentioned when the guidelines were announced, we expect to revise the guidelines after seeing what sorts of uses people want to make of the marks and find out what needs to change.

I’ve put up the guidelines on the wiki here and added another page here to start work on the next iteration of the guidelines.

We’ve also started a page here to outline areas where the guidelines are either unclear, too restrictive, not restrictive enough, or cases where we should have a registered trademark and we don’t.  If you’re interested in revising the policy, feel free to head over to the wiki and provide your input! (Feel free to discuss in the comments or on the mailing lists, but we can’t promise that all input not on the wiki will be considered.)

This took a bit longer than we’d have liked, but we are now ready to unleash the openSUSE Trademark Guidelines (PDF). (See openSUSE News for the official announcement.)

I’d like to thank our legal team for their work on the guidelines, and also all of the members of the community who participated in drafting, reviewing, and providing expert input. And, also, a special thanks to the community members who patiently (more or less… :-)) waited for the guidelines to be finished.

One thing I want to stress: We’re putting these guidelines out because we want to encourage and simplify the use of openSUSE as a base for other projects. So, if you read the guidelines and see a problem, let us know. We expect that these will be revised at some point in the future, so feedback is welcome.

Also, the guidelines are just that: Guidelines. If you want to create your own openSUSE distro or use an openSUSE logo for something, the guidelines exist to make it simple to do that without having to get a separate agreement from our legal department to make it possible. They also explain when use of the marks is not permitted.

But, you can ask for permission to use the openSUSE marks even if you don’t fit within the permitted use case. We simply can’t grant blanket permission for all modified versions that include non-project modifications. If you have questions about using the openSUSE marks, please contact permission@novell.com.

We consulted with a number of other projects’ guidelines in drafting these. Unfortunately, there’s not a GPL of trademark guidelines — that is to say, while there are plenty of well-respected free and open source licenses for code, there isn’t a “standard” trademark policy that FOSS projects could simply re-use. That’s too bad, because I expect many projects spend quite a few man hours drafting policies and having them reviewed.

That said, we did draw from the guidelines of other projects, and have likewise made it possible to reuse ours — the openSUSE Trademark Guidelines are licensed under version 3.0 of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license.

No comments on the coverage, just links to the (English language) stories I’m aware of so far. This includes news stories, reviews, and a few tutorials. Feel free to send me links if you see additional coverage that I’ve missed.

Linux Developer Network | openSUSE 11.1 Sports New Free Street Cred: “Eventually, the conversation turned to this new release itself and what changes it brings to the operating system table. What was of interest to me was that the least visible change to the distribution could prove to be the most significant to proponents of free software.”

OStatic | Leapin’ Lizards: openSUSE Jumps to 11.1 Tomorrow: “On Thursday, the openSUSE project will make available its stable 11.1 release. I was fortunate enough to take a sneak peek at the new release this week, and while the changes aren’t quite as dizzying as those between 10.3 and 11.0 (understandably), they work nicely to make this new release both eye-catching and functional.”

Ars Technica | The Lizard Roars: openSUSE 11.1 Officially Released: “OpenSUSE 11.1, the next major version of Novell’s community-driven Linux distribution, is scheduled for release on December 18. The new version will include updated software and some important new features that enhance the quality of the distribution.”

The Open Road | openSUSE 11.1: A new license signals renewed community: “Novell officially released openSUSE 11.1 on Thursday, unleashing a torrent of new features like a Linux 2.6.27.7 kernel, improvements to YaST, and others.”

Computerworld UK | Novell rejigs OpenSUSE licensing: “Novell’s openSuSE project is becoming more open, as a new release due out Thursday includes licensing changes that make it easier to redistribute the Linux OS, and a build service to encourage more contributions from developers.”

Heise Online | OpenSUSE 11.1 has arrived: “The OpenSUSE developers have delivered version 11.1 of the OpenSUSE distribution, just in time for Christmas. As well as the updates to the component packages of OpenSUSE, some innovation has taken place compared to the previous version. Most importantly, the developers have implemented a strict separation of free and proprietary software. The OpenSUSE DVD now contains only freely distributable applications, allowing people to legally copy and distribute the DVD.”

ZDNet UK | openSuSE 11.1 Released: “The openSuSE Project made their 11.1 release available yesterday. I have downloaded and installed it on both of my laptops, and it looks very good. At least for the specific hardware and environment that I use, it is a significant improvement over the 11.0 release.

Daniweb | Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier Discusses openSUSE 11.1: “Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier is the Community Manager for openSUSE. He has been involved with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) since 1996 when he discovered FOSS while a college student and was hooked. For most of his career he has worked as a technology journalist covering Linux and open source topics. Most recently, he was Editor-in-Chief of Linux Magazine prior to joining Novell in February of 2008.”

NetworkWorld | OpenSUSE gets more open with new user license and build service: “Novell’s openSUSE project is becoming more open, as a new release due out Thursday includes licensing changes that make it easier to redistribute the Linux operating system, and a build service that will encourage more contributions from open source developers.”

BetaNews | openSUSE 11.1 Linux OS leaves beta: “The newest edition of the Novell-sponsored OpenSUSE Project’s Linux OS, contains a number of new enhancements built both internally and through the open source community.”

InternetNews | Latest OpenSUSE Has OpenOffice Goodies: “Novell’s community openSUSE Linux distribution is out with version 11.1 today offering updated open source applications, a new license and a new take on the KDE Linux desktop GUI.”

Ars Technica | OpenSUSE 11.1 released. Lizards dance with joy: “OpenSUSE 11.1 has finally been released and it has finally convinced Ryan Paul to switch from Ubuntu. We published his early look this past Monday, which is a great overview of the update. OpenSUSE 11.1 includes over 200 new features including an updated release of GNOME, which has undergone many improvements since the OpenSUSE 11.0 release. 11.1 also includes an updated release of the Banshee media player.”

DesktopLinux | OpenSUSE rev’s license, build system: “The Novell-sponsored openSUSE Project announced the availability of version 11.1 of its open-source openSUSE Linux distribution. Version 11.1 offers a new license that eases redistribution, and it’s the first version developed with the openSUSE Build Service, which improves collaboration and transparency among contributors, says openSUSE.” (Says openSUSE?)

ZDNet | Tough Love with openSUSE 11.1: “From a pure technical achievement, openSUSE 11.1 is at package parity with the best Linux distributions available — such as Fedora 10 and Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex 8.10. In many ways it’s more polished, as clearly it has a lot of customization work that went into it to make it well-integrated, but at the same time, the distribution still feels like it was designed for people who know what they are doing, not for regular end-users. By trying to be a Server, Developer, and end-user Desktop platform at the same time, its target audience remains unfocused and its scope is too big. It’s now the Linux equivalent of the Swiss Army knife with 50 separate tools in it.”

Lifehacker Australia | OpenSUSE 11.1 Adds OpenOffice.org 3.0, Other Improvements: “OpenSUSE is out with an 11.1 release that rolls in the latest improvements to GNOME, KDE, the Linux kernel and more, as well as packaging OpenOffice.org 3.0 (which we’ve toured) and renovating the built-in printer and partition tools. Grab an live CD image or torrent link to try it out.”

Channel Register | Novell dishes up openSUSE 11.1 details: “The next big release of Novell’s community-driven SUSE Linux distro is set to land on Thursday. Ahead of that, the firm has released details about what customers can expect from version 11.1, including a new licence in which the EULA has been ditched.”

ZDNet UK | OpenSuse 11.1 aims at user-friendly desktop: “Novell has launched version 11.1 of OpenSuse, its desktop-oriented, community-supported version of Linux.”

PC Pro | Novell delivers OpenSUSE 11.1 details: “Novell has released further details of what we can expect from the next version of its SUSE Linux distro.”

Neowin | Q&A with Joe Brockmeier at Novell: “If you read the Linux section of the Neowin forums recently, you will know that Neowin was recently given the opportunity for a Q&A session with Joe Brockmeier. Also known as Zonker, Joe has been using Linux since 1996 and currently works as the openSUSE Community Manager at Novell. I had a few questions of my own, but found the best questions came from our members.”

Linux.com | openSUSE 11.1 makes Christmas come early: “It’s that time of the year again. No, not Christmas — it’s the time of the year we get the latest versions of our favorite Linux distributions. Version 11.1 of openSUSE is being released today. Designated as a point release, there are enough new goodies to warrant a new install or upgrade.”

HowtoForge | The Perfect Server - OpenSUSE 11.1: “This is a detailed description about how to set up an OpenSUSE 11.1 server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written for the 32-bit version of OpenSUSE 11.1, but should apply to the 64-bit version with very little modifications as well.”

HowtoForge | The Perfect Desktop - openSUSE 11.1 (GNOME): “This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 11.1 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.”

Linux Magazine Online | openSUSE 11.1: “OpenSUSE 11.1 rolled out today, sporting more than 230 new features, many updates, and a brand new license. The newest release is also the first built entirely on the openSUSE Build Service.”

iTWire | Novell releases openSUSE 11.1: “The latest version of Novell’s Linux distro, openSUSE 11.1, has been released, with 230 new features, improvements to YaST, major updates to GNOME, KDE, OpenOffice.org, a new license and plenty more.”

Once again, it’s time to write the announcement for a beta release, so I’m putting out the call for features / issues that should be in this announcement. Please leave a comment here or send me an email at zonker@opensuse.org. Thanks!

I know a lot of openSUSE users and contributors probably don’t look at the openSUSE landing page (front page) every day — I have most of the openSUSE pages I need bookmarked or have the URLs memorized, and rarely ever start from the front page.

So, you may not have noticed that the front page has been redesigned. Go ahead, pull up a new browser window and take a look.

Isn’t it fantastic? I liked the old page, but this redesign really looks great. Robert Lihm and Andreas Demmer have done a great job rethinking the page and putting a lot more information on the landing page without making it look cluttered or ugly.

One of the things the marketing team will be looking at now is how we can start improving pages further inside the Web site to better serve new users and the existing community as well. If you’re interested, please be sure to sign up for the marketing list and join in. The openSUSE Web site is the first contact for the project for many people, so it’s vitally important that it look good and be as usable as possible, and the new landing page is both usable and great-looking.

The next openSUSE Marketing Meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 23 at 15:00 UTC. (Which is 17:00 CEST, 11:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, and 00:00 JST on Wednesday. Sorry…) The meeting will be held in #openSUSE-Project on Freenode. Grab your favorite IRC client and join us for an hour of fun, frolic, and open source marketing goodness.

I’ve put up an agenda on the wiki as is the standard operating procedure. If you have additions, suggestions, etc. please feel free to add them to the agenda.

And, of course, discussion is always welcome on the opensuse-marketing list. We try to keep the IRC meeting to an hour, so it helps to have most of the discussion before the meeting or right after.

Again, please join us for the marketing meeting next Tuesday. Linux isn’t going to dominate the world by itself!

Apparently the nice folks over at SourceForge.net are having a tattoo artist at their Community Choice Awards next week at OSCON. Ross Turk asked whether I’d like a “tech-related tattoo” on Twitter. Sure, I said, I’ll get one if we can hit one million openSUSE 11.0 installs by the time of the party next week.

Now, that’s not terribly likely, but hey — if we hit the 1 million mark, I’ll totally get a Geeko tattoo. If we just hit 300K, I’ll just dye my hair green. So, if you’d like to see me sporting a geeko tattoo, start hitting up your friends, family, co-workers, and random strangers to install openSUSE 11.0!

LugRadio Live UK is coming up next weekend, and the openSUSE project will be in attendance. Roger Whittaker and Andrew Wafaa are going to be representing the green at LRL, and (assuming the shipping gods are kind to us) handing out openSUSE 11.0 DVDs to all and sundry.

If you’d like to assist at the booth, get in touch with Roger. A big thanks to both Roger and Andrew for taking the initiative at LRL!