The last time I used SuSE regularly was when SuSE 10.0 was brand spankin' new. At the time, I was new to Linux, and the two distros everyone mentioned as good for newbies like me were openSuSE and Ubuntu -- the latter of which, for those keeping score at home, was version 5.04 (Breezy). At the time, getting wireless in Linux nothing short of a herculean task. Even after getting ndiswrapper under my belt, I to this day have no idea how I got my WPA wireless network working in Breezy. As I didn't know what I'd done, or how to switch networks, I tried openSuSE, which had better configuration tools.
Cut to today, and SuSE still has better configuration tools, although Ubuntu has closed the gap considerably. However, I've stuck to Ubuntu for the following reasons:
- Better software installation. Installing software in SuSE never consistently worked for me.
- Huge installs. You had to download 5 installation disks, and SuSE came with tons of software I never used. Sure, you could prune it during install, but that was a pain and initially I didn't know what to cut.
- SuSE was slow! The main culprits here were the bootup time and YaST, the main configuration tool. I liked YaST in principle, since it was convenient for managing the system, but it took ages to boot up.
- Third-party repositories. Increasingly, I found that while just about everyone provides an Ubuntu-compatible download, not everyone has a SuSE version. Again, getting software was harder in SuSE
Well, with version 10.3, I think it's safe to say that SuSE has begun to address these concerns. The improved SuSE experience begins with the download: you can either download a CD with Gnome or a CD with KDE or a DVD that includes both. I've even heard that an installable live CD a la Ubuntu will be released soon.
Installing openSuSE has always been a) easy and b) long and in 10.3 things are no different. It took about 45 minutes to install to my virtual hard disk using 512 MB of RAM for the guest operating system. By comparison, Ubuntu installs in about half that time. However, SuSE does ask you whether or not you'd like to install Adobe Flash, Sun Java and other non-oss software, allowing for an experience that 'just works' out of the box -- assuming that is, you have access to the non-oss repositories, either through the internet or the downloadable extra CD. SuSE also legally plays mp3 files out of the box -- something that has been a long time in coming for most Linux distributions.
SuSE has always been a beautiful distro, and that's still true in 10.3. Although personally I preferred the blue-themed SuSE of yore, the new green theme is distinctive, professional and smooth from the boot screen right until you hit your desktop. You'll also be hitting that desktop sooner, as openSuSE has improved it's boot times. Though it still lags behind the time it takes Windows to boot (even windows running in a VM), SuSE boots in more or less the same time it takes Ubuntu to do so.
Installing software has improved a ton. I really can't emphasize enough how much. Firstly, YaST is faster, though still a little on the slow side. It also has an annoying habit of scanning repositories rather than caching them, but that behavior can be changed from the default. So far, everything I've installed from SuSE has worked great, which is more than I could say the last time I used it. I haven't tried it, but SuSE's one-click install also holds a lot of promise. Installing Compiz Fusion all in a single click would be nothing short of amazing.
The default applications that come with SuSE have been slimed down, which makes it much easier to find things. Amarok, K3B, OpenOffice, Gwenview... all the 'best in class' applications you've come to expect out of a basic linux install are there. I still wish the kickoff menu was more like the SLAB found in Gnome, as it takes up way too much screen real estate... but it's still a step in the right direction.
So, am I going to install SuSE on my real computer right away? Nope. If your current distro is working for you, and Feisty is for me, I really see no reason to change. However, next time I upgrade, I will be sorely tempted to choose SuSE. The professional look, centralized configuration tools and increased ease of use are all strong arguments in it's favor. For me, the only unanswered question about SuSE is one of third-party support: for example, how hard will it be to get Avant Window Navigator installed? With Ubuntu I can more or less expect a .deb, but not so with SuSE. There again, by the time I'm ready to upgrade maybe I could more or less expect an rpm: if SuSE continues to build on the improvements they've made, the distro will be a strong contender against Ubuntu in the Linux desktop market.
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