From: Scott Gilbertson To: Douglas DeMaio Cc: Bcc: Subject: Re: MIT of Linux distribution Reply-To: In-Reply-To: <549086BE020000FA0015ECB7@smtp.nue.novell.com> On 12/16, Douglas DeMaio wrote: > Hi Scott, > > I have provided the answers below you questions: > > v/r > Doug > > > > > > >>> Scott Gilbertson 12/16/14 5:36 PM >>> > Douglas- > > Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but this is great, I like that > metaphor of MIT. > > I have a couple follow up questions if you have time... > > 1) In thinking about openSUSE's focus on power users the first thing > that comes to mind is all the work that's gone into revamping YaST, > would you say that's a good example of those goals in practice? Are > there any other recent changes that reflect the power user focus? > > > The efforts openSUSE made toward revamping YaST is a great example of the goals in practice. YaST used to be written in a language specific for YaST called YCP and we created a program called YCP Killer, which translates that language into Ruby; this was both innovative and allowed for us to move forward with a more current language. YCP Killer solidified our ability to appeal for more power users. Some of the code looks a bit strange and that code is what we call Zombies, but we are working on the next program called YCP-Zombie Killer to make the code look more like what a person would write rather than a computer. YCP Killer is a great achievement and we believe this will help bring more contributors on board with the openSUSE Project. > > 2) Along the same lines, does openSUSE have any big plans for the near > future? Or is the project more focused on maintaining/incremental > improvements? > > We are innovative at creating tools and much of the innovation are in the processes. Power users don't always see this, but the innovation is in the process; it's in the tools. When you look at our tools and the processes we make to create the distribution, the innovation is very clear. However, we are making incremental changes that appeal more to the power users. That is the direction we are moving toward. > > 3) > > To answer the question how does openSUSE see itself fitting into > > the future, openSUSE sees itself as the MIT of Linux distribution and > > development. > > Can you expand on that a little? I'm curious exactly which aspects of > MIT's place in the larger picture mirror openSUSE's? > > > openSUSE mirrors MIT is several ways. MIT's roots come from Europe when it adopted the European polytechnic university model. openSUSE is a worldwide project, but it started in Europe and we all know how technical and process oriented Germans are; this efficiency is in the fabric of the openSUSE project. The tools and processes the openSUSE project has established for optimisation and automation are similar to how MIT would approach a project. The methodology we use is allowing us to develop faster and to be more creative. Using btrfs as the default file system is an example of the strength of our distribution. - https://news.opensuse.org/2014/11/12/what-to-expect-from-btrfs-on-opensuse-13-2/ > > Let me know if you need anything else. > > > > Thanks again for getting back to me so quickly. > > cheers > Scott Gilbertson > sng@luxagraf.net > > >