Monday 23 June 2008

My OpenSuse 11.0 experience. OpenSuse or Ubuntu? I have made my choice.

Dear readers,

I have been using Ubuntu since the 'Ubuntu Breezy' edition. I have few friends how are OpenSuse users. I was kind of excited about the release of the OpenSuse-11.0 and then I thought that I should give it a try. I read a lot about this new openSuse release being the 'Ubuntu Killer'. You might think that I will have a biased opinion about it but to tell you the truth, I don't think that openSuse-11.0 is up to that level.

During the installation, I was a bit impressed with its new installation method, which was pretty similar to the Ubuntu's installation. If you are an Ubuntu user then I would suggest that you should stick with Ubuntu as its still way better than openSuse when it comes to user friendliness.

I will make a list of the things which I didn't like about it.

1. The smoothness of ubuntu is still lacking in opensuse-11.0

2. On my Dell Latitude D600, the visual effects were not running as smooth as ubuntu.

3. I would agree that they tried to make the interface look better and more user friendly but it still doesn't come close to Ubuntu.

4. I didn't find much online support for the new release of openSuse-11.0

5. The start-up/loading time was at least 10 to 15 seconds more than Ubuntu.

6. I checked the system monitor and the programs were running slower in openSuse.

Anyway, I should better stop here because I don't want to criticize it so much because the openSuse team has worked so hard towards this new release and it wouldn't be fair to them. I would say that if you are using Ubuntu and you just want to give openSuse-11.0 a try then go ahead and check it with the live CD, but I wouldn't advise you to install it as an operating system. Please leave a comment if you think I am wrong.

Well, as for me, I am back to Ubuntu and I am more than happy with it. This was my personal opinion and I hope this helps.

All the best!

update:
I think few people got me wrong. Let me summarize it in a few words for you. I have used Ubuntu, Suse, Debian, Kubuntu, RedHat, Fedora... To be honest, I am just staying with Ubuntu, not because I am trying to be biased here but its just so darn better than other Linux OS regarding the usability/update/speed/Interface/online-help (very helpful) etc. I have worked as a Linux IT support person and I never got any complains about Ubuntu. Everyone was happ after I installed Ubuntu on their computer, and a lot of people just gave up on Suse and other OS and they found Ubuntu to be the most usable Linux OS.

Please don't try to pull my legs. I am just stating my opinion and I am just trying to save other Ubuntu users some time and effort.

If you think that openSuse-11.0 is the right thing for you then go ahead and use it. I do NOT have any problem with it and I am not trying to change your mind. I love Linux and I always will, in one form or another.

Thanks for the comments!

5 comments:

  1. Come on, I can tell that you have biased opinion just from the phrases you use...
    "Suse installer similar to Ubuntu"??? how???
    openSUSE installer is prettier + offers you offers you more choice,

    and your other points of comparison are completely opinion based... "openSUSE menus are similar but don't come close to UBUNTU" wtf again???
    how did you get to that conclusion?
    openSUSE has completely customized menu with search option?? how in the world are they similar..

    anyway, if you want to state your opinion then at least go ahead and explain it!

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  2. i can see what the point is i have tried opensuse 10.3,its interface is the best that beats ubuntu by say 50% more usability but to be fair there are tools like barpanel,gimme that gives rather same experience.also talking about speed is the biggest issue with opensuse it lacks speed when
    booting,system speed,upgrading,installing some software.

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  3. please read the updated message in the article before you start whining about the whole thing.

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  4. The one thing that I *really* can't stand about OpenSuSE 11 is the SLAB menu they use in Gnome. Having a window pop up to access your apps? Hmmm...I think I last saw that in Windows 3.1. Utterly awful bit of rubbish, made even worse by it closing as soon as you launch something (making it even wrose than the win3.1 program manager).
    I was quick to replace it with the classic menu system.
    The new KDE 4 launcher also annoys me to no end.

    Now Mint 5 has got it right with their menu, as far as I'm concerned. It's the only launcher that I've come to like since the Win98 style start menu (which I use to this day in XP)

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  5. As I am new user of LINUX.. I find this article very useful.
    I have tried Ubuntu 10.4 LTs Laptop edition. One thing I don't like starting user interface. It shows always shows a menu in desktop. It ruins the feel of desktop.
    I had also tried Open Solaris, I found its user interface good.I liked its wobbling effect very interesting.

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