On Wed, 2006-06-28 at 19:30 +0200, Daniel Bertolo wrote: > Am Mittwoch, 28. Juni 2006 14:27 schrieb Pascal Bleser: > > "SUSE" has been around for a long time, as a name (even if it was > > "S.u.S.E." and "SuSE" in the past). > > I did not say that SUSE should be renamed. I just suggested to seperate the > community based SUSE Linux from the Novell business products. Being a user of > both, I would suggest the following: > > - Community Edition: SUSE Linux 10.2 > - Novell products: Novell Linux Enterprise Server, Novell Linux Desktop > > Like that SUSE stands for the community and Novell for business products. > > > You might be new to SUSE Linux, but the distribution has a very strong > > history, especially in Germany, and renaming the distribution to > > something else is totally *not* a good idea. > > No, I am definitely not new. I am using it for more than six years now. And > Switzerland is not that far from Germany :).
I expect much of the internal discussion is over branding and brand identity, i.e. SuSE vs. Novell. Recall one of the benefits expected from the combination was Novell's strong brand identity with Enterprise customers, who could now buy a Linux distro with an equally strong brand identity. Personally, I think SuSE/Novell should aim high: I liked the 9.x naming of SuSE Professional. "Professional" connotes a distro for serious users who are more interested in what you can use the tools for, rather than than the developer-inclined users more interested in improving the toolset or getting it to install on USB disks or other interesting, cool technical achievements, etc. Similarly, I like the "Enterprise" name for the maintenance-backed products. My two cents for product naming/differentiation: Novell's SuSE Linux Professional (boxed, with DVD, all CDROMs and non-gpl components, printed manuals and a two-year maintenance agreement, priced accordingly, like $199 each, or $895 for a five-pack--professionals have a budget after all, and if it really is that good, then people will pay for it.) Novell's OpenSuSE Community Edition (downloadable CDs w/out non-gpl components, which can be installed separately, along with already built-in hooks to non-SuSE repositories like PackMan, and no support agreements. Make it like Ubuntu; a tight, stable version, and many ways to plug in whatever you want.) Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Small Business Server etc. So, now Novell can sell to their enterprise clients N-SLED and N-SLES and N-SLESBS, thereby leveraging the Novell brand. And folks already familiar with SuSE will know what they are talking about. The SuSE folks can also get the Novell accountants off their back by moving the boxed Professional set up to a higher price point, and give satisfaction at the same time to the customers who want printed manuals and some support, but who don't want the more corporate attributes of SLED. Go ahead, flame away... All the best, Mark -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
