openSUSE Vision Envisioning more publicity The openSUSE Board [email protected] 

2 Who are we? • As openSUSE approaches it's 10th Anniversary the Project can be said to suffer from an 'identity crisis' • Common questions heard from both existing community members and potential new contributors illuminate this problem ‒ “Who are we making this for?” ‒ “Why should I use openSUSE?” ‒ “Why should I contribute to openSUSE?” ‒ “What makes openSUSE special?” 

3 “The openSUSE Project is a worldwide effort that promotes the use of Linux everywhere.” - openSUSE wiki 

4 What's the problem with that? • Targeting 'everyone, everywhere' can be seen to be targeting 'no one, nowhere' • Current messaging centered around 'try our distribution and tools', but this is currently undirected ‒ “Who should be interested in our distributions and tools?” 

5 Not all bad news • Despite these problems, the openSUSE community continues to grow • Solid praise for openSUSE 13.2 • Very positive feedback and growth in the openSUSE Tumbleweed user and contributor base • Growing interest in our tools. eg OBS and openQA 

6 Providing Definition • The openSUSE Board came to the conclusion that defining a Vision for the openSUSE Project based on our strengths, could provide a new focus and excitement to help bring new users & contributors into the Project. • This should not redefine the Project or force a new direction upon it. 

7 Identifying our strengths - Tools • Open Build Service ‒ Continual and growing interest from other projects • openQA ‒ Recently adopted by Red Hat for testing Fedora • YaST ‒ Still seen as the best GUI administration tool for Linux • KIWI ‒ The power behind SUSE Studio, which has significant appeal to new users • Snapper, and more... 

8 Identifying our strengths - Distributions • Tumbleweed ‒ Latest Software provided in a fast-but-stable way ‒ Primary Development Focus of the Community ‒ Growing User & Contributor base • Regular Release ‒ Community built Linux OS released every 8-12 months ‒ Of decreasing development interest to the Community ‒ Loyal User Base 

9 Tumbleweed is being used 

10 SLE Sources • SUSE have announced that they are providing much of the SLE sources and updates in OBS • An openSUSE Distribution built on top of this could replace the current 'openSUSE Regular Release' • Could appeal to the core audience of the current Regular Release ‒ Depends on how we utilize the SLE Sources 

11 Identifying our strengths - Variety • As a result of our tools and distribution development, openSUSE offers a very broad selection of Open Source software • Tumbleweed contains about 8000 packages and growing • OBS provides many more in Devel: projects 

12 openSUSE's areas of strength Tools • Open Build Service • openQA • YaST • KIWI • Etc.. Distributions • Tumbleweed • Regular Release Packages • Broad Variety 

13 Finding our Audience(s) • The Board considered 4 main audiences that openSUSE's offerings may appeal to ‒ ISVs ‒ Desktop Users ‒ System Administrators ‒ Developers 

14 Ruling out ISVs • Despite identifying that ISVs could have a strong interest in openSUSE's offerings, the Board eliminated them as a potential Target Audience for several reasons ‒ Retaining openSUSE as a community orientated project ‒ Desire to avoid potential conflicts of interest with SUSE ‒ Perception that ISVs were primarily interested in commercial gain 

15 Desktop Users • Broad Variety Desktop Users Tools • Open Build Service • openQA • YaST • KIWI • Etc.. Distributions • Tumbleweed • Regular Release Packages • Broad Variety 

16 Desktop Users • openSUSE has a vibrant desktop community ‒ 100% community maintained KDE offering which is widely seen as the best available ‒ GNOME, on openSUSE used as demonstration platform by the upstream GNOME Project ‒ XFCE, LXDE, Enlightenment, etc. No other distributions have as many desktops on offer • openSUSE distributions appeal to this audience ‒ Tumbleweed – Enthusiastic/Power Users ‒ Regular Release – Conservative/Basic Users 

17 Desktop Users • Ubuntu is the primary competition in this area ‒ Strong focus on Ease of Use ‒ Broad appeal for new Linux users ‒ “The King of the General Linux Desktop” ‒ Excellent PR • While Desktop Users enjoy the output of our tools, rarely leverage them directly • General Linux Desktop users rarely convert into new contributors 

18 Desktop Users - Conclusion • While the Desktop should be part of the openSUSE Vision, the Board concluded that the General Linux Desktop should not be a focus • However, leveraging our strength in Desktops could accentuate our message to both the Developer and SysAdmin/Dev Ops audiences 

19 System Administrators • Broad Variety SysAdmins Tools • Open Build Service • openQA • YaST • KIWI • Etc.. Distributions • Tumbleweed • Regular Release Packages • Broad Variety 

20 System Administrators • openSUSE is a strong choice for SysAdmins ‒ YaST is the best GUI SysAdmin tool for Linux ‒ Tools like OBS & KIWI support more 'developer orientated' SysAdmins to build their custom packages and images ‒ Shared heritage/ongoing alignment with SUSE Products • openSUSE's regular release strongly appeals to this audience ‒ Tumbleweed is moving too fast for many SysAdmins 

21 System Administrators • Fedora is making a concerted push in this area ‒ openSUSE maintains an edge with tools and package availability ‒ openSUSE regular releases make an exceptionally powerful platform with both great stability and a wide range of community packages, better than Fedora • SysAdmins have a tendency to convert into new contributors ‒ The current DevOps trend accelerates this 

22 System Administrators - Conclusion • SysAdmins has a strong potential as a focal audience for the openSUSE Project • SysAdmins who lean more towards Developers/DevOps are likely to find openSUSE even more appealing as they are able to leverage a broader range of our tools and packages 

23 Developers • Broad Variety Developers Tools • Open Build Service • openQA • YaST • KIWI • Etc.. Distributions • Tumbleweed • Regular Release Packages • Broad Variety 

24 Developers, Developers, Developers • openSUSE is a great choice for Developers ‒ Tumbleweed provides a great development platform with the latest software stacks and IDEs without breakage ‒ Tools like OBS empower developers to build their packages for openSUSE and other platforms ‒ openSUSE regular releases provide a stable platform for developers to test their software • Developers naturally convert into new contributors to openSUSE 

25 Developers • Arch and Gentoo are strong competitors in this area ‒ Tumbleweed rolls faster across the whole operating system ‒ Tumbleweed provides better stability thanks to openQA & Staging ‒ Neither has a platform like openSUSE regular releases for testing & preparation for deployment on Enterprise Linux ‒ openSUSE distributions are easier to install and maintain ‒ AUR enables Arch to have a similar package selection, but OBS enables developers to build packages for multiple distributions 

26 Developers - Conclusion • Developers should be a prime audience for the openSUSE Project • Regardless of the type of development (OS, Web, Desktop, etc) openSUSE provides a compelling set of tools and platforms ‒ Minus some dark corners! • Developers and System Administrators are Desktop Users ‒ The Desktop IS important 

27 openSUSE - The Makers Choice - Project Tagline Idea 

28 Next Steps • Sharing the Vision • Generate excitement • Just do it! • Replace www.opensuse.org website with a new website (already started during a recent Hackweek) that reflects this Vision 

29 On the way Replace www.opensuse.org website 

30 Take the plunge! 

31 Party? 

Thank you. Join the conversation, contribute & have a lot of fun! www.opensuse.org 

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