Novell is opening SuSE Linux to community-based development, sources say, with a model similar to Red Hat's recent move with Fedora. Novell will be launching a community-based Linux distribution, OpenSuSE, at next week's LinuxWorld in San Francisco, according to sources close to the company.
Following in the footsteps of Red Hat Inc. with its successful Fedora Project Linux distribution, Novell Inc. will be opening up its Linux development efforts with OpenSuSE, sources said.
A site, opensuse.org, has already been set up for the project by Novell under the name of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne. The site, however, is not open for business yet.
Continuing in this humorous vein, sources said, the initiative's launch will go by the name of "The Lizard Blizzard" and SuSE's original "Geeko" lizard mascot will be reappearing at LinuxWorld.
More seriously, the true name of the deliverable distribution will be SuSE Linux, while the SuSE Linux Pro line will be rebranded to share the SuSE Linux name.
The expected distribution model isn't quite the same as Red Hat's, though; unlike Red Hat, which only makes Fedora available as a download and doesn't offer support for it, Novell will also sell SuSE Linux in a boxed retail version with manuals and paid technical support, sources said.
The full version will be freely available from the OpenSuSE site as both source code and in ISO download form. Sources said the dual approach was chosen because Novell wants SuSE Linux to be both worked on by the community and run by users who don't want to develop but do want a supported, cutting-edge Linux.
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