7mo ago

SUSE Requests openSUSE to Rebrand

linuxiac.com SUSE Requests openSUSE to Rebrand

Breaking: The openSUSE Board discusses SUSE's request to stop using its brand, highlighting the need for cooperation and goodwill.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/37281970

Believe it or not, an unexpected conflict has arisen in the openSUSE community with its long-time supporter and namesake, the SUSE company.
At the heart of this tension lies a quiet request that has stirred not-so-quiet ripples across the open source landscape: SUSE has formally asked openSUSE to discontinue using its brand name.
Richard Brown, a key figure within the openSUSE project, shared insights into the discussions that have unfolded behind closed doors.
Despite SUSE’s request’s calm and respectful tone, the implications of not meeting it could be far-reaching, threatening the symbiotic relationship that has benefited both entities over the years.

Linux @programming.dev

lemme in @lemm.ee

7mo ago

SUSE Requests openSUSE to Rebrand

linuxiac.com /suse-requests-opensuse-to-rebrand/

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169 comments

Oh wow. SUSE family of distribution is relatively small footprint. Whole story sounds like "splitting the hair". The only reasonable explanation is that SUSE hired some self-glorified marketer from big corp. omg...
- No, there are good reasons for it. A lot of people get confused between SUSE and openSUSE offerings. Often SUSE customers show up in openSUSE places, because they believe that it's a place they can get official support. And I'm sure a lot of potential customers might get confused in the same way too.
  On the flip side there are also a lot of openSUSE (adjacent) users who think SUSE is (secretly or not) making openSUSE development decisions or think they can dand SUSE to do that and that.
  So there are some good reasons to consider a rebranding, but also some speaking against it, like the less of recognition it might entail.
  
  And you really think, people who are willing and able to buy enterprise support for their Linux distro get confused by the naming? Sure, there's that one confused dude, but you also have people asking Facebook where they left their keys.
  OpenSuse is essentially free marketing for SUSE, nobody would know them otherwise. Why would you give that away?
  Suse is not a huge company, it has neither a large enterprise backer nor any killer features, and its market share is relatively small compared to Red Hat or Canonical. Throwing away free marketing while alienating a relatively passionate community is a kind of brainrot only MBA can come up with.
  
  I am in the linux world 20+ years. Used SUSE for short amout of time back than and never really cared much about it, just glad it still exist.
  This is the first time I am hearing openSUSE is not part od SUSE.
  Having different name should be good for all. I think openSUSE people should have done it long time ago. But sounds like name is not the only problem.

OpenSueUs
- Holy shit that was so good lol

LibreSUSE 😎
- I'd love them to replace SUSE with SUS. Distrowatch click rate +500%
  
  amongSUSE
  
  I would that too

Just rename it jeSUSE, because nobody fucks with the jeSUSE.
- Eight years of long term support, dude.
- We already have JeOS
- Fuck jususe, and fuck Jesus. Also fuck OpenJeSUSE.
  
  I also enjoy a good edge
  
  There's enough fucks to go around, for sure.

Rename it to openSUS

Doesn't SUSE actively benefit from openSUSE development? I thought Tumbleweed and SLES had a similar relationship as Fedora and RHEL.
- Notice that "Fedora" does not have "Redhat" its name. Maybe the request is reasonable. I don't know how many people think that thy don't need SLES, because there is openSUSE.
  
  My comment was more about how SUSE benefits from openSUSE development (and vice-versa) and that Tumbleweed has a similar relationship to SLES as Fedora has to RHEL, as they are both upstream of their respective enterprise distributions.
  Besides, people don't need SLES. Enterprises do because of the support they get. And I'd assume employees responsible for that kind of thing at such enterprises would know the difference.
  And the Red Hat logo is literally a fedora hat.
  If it's just a name change done well, I couldn't care less (although openSUSE is a very recognizable name and brand recognition would have to be reestablished). I just hope that this isn't the beginning of something worse.
  
  Fedora/Redhat is a good example. It could be argued that the Linux distro scene was different 23 years ago, making it harder to be seen today.
  The thing I'm pondering is what the openSUSE community actually is. Does it exist as a group, or is it separate projects, each doing their own thing... for who? What is the overlap between people in the various distros, overlap in technology used in packaging and QA etc? Is it meaningful to talk about openSUSE as a distinct community separate from SUSE?
- SUSE provide a lot of the infrastructure for openSUSE and base their enterprise Linux from factory.

wow. I had a good opinion of suse up to this point. what a silly request after all these years.
- Corporate backing is a two-edged sword, unfortunately.
- From my own looking into this it looks like more of a suggestion than a request (for now at least), just a "this might be a good idea, we should look into it".
  
  I just don't get what they are thinking. opensuse is basically free advertising for them.
  
  It's a strange suggestion after very recently working closely with openSUSE to ensure Leap can use the same binaries as SLE, though
- Strange is using and marketing someone else's name without written permission.
  Why do you think linux distros and free software have such strange names? To avoid stepping on someone toes without expensive trademark research.

New name suggestion:
"The Distro Formerly Known As openSUSE"
- openDISTROFORMALLYASKEDBYSUSETOREBRAND
  
  I do hope that's an acronym, too. 🙃
- Careful, Germans take it seriously.
- TDFKOS
- same energy (and impact) as "X formerly known as Twitter"
  
  It's a play on "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince"
  
  Which is the same energy as Prince has with this, sweet summer child.

TIL SUSE exists and wouldn't have found out if not for OpenSUSE and this news. It's kinda weird to open their website and see this:
- SUSE is such a stupid name. Like, it is stupid to say in German.
  Just rename it SUSGeckoOS
  
  If GeckOS isn't already taken, it could be kinda cool.
  
  I don't know what's stupid to say about Gesellschaft für Software und Systementwicklung mit beschränkter Haftung
- They are the second largest "Linux company" by revenue after Red Hat iirc

It's SUSSY Linux time
- OpenBUSSY
- or Sussie

That must be annoying just after OpenSUSE went through a branding redesign process. I guess they'll have to give up the gecko logo since SUSE also uses it?
And there's more at stake than a rebranding it seems. This could signal SUSE withdrawing development support from OpenSUSE:
Let’s face it: SUSE has been more than just a namesake for openSUSE; it has actively provided resources and support far beyond what it would ordinarily need for its business operations.
This generosity has fostered a thriving openSUSE project that has excelled under SUSE’s goodwill and informal support, including contributions made by SUSE employees on company time.
However, the recent request for a branding separation has overshadowed this partnership. If openSUSE does not handle this request with the sensitivity and cooperation it demands, the project risks not just a reduction in support from SUSE but a potential shift in priorities away from it.
The “Factory first” policy, a cornerstone of the engineering synergy between SUSE and openSUSE, could also be scrutinized, emphasizing the gravity of the current situation.
- This could signal SUSE withdrawing development support from OpenSUSE
  i had a similar thought; feels like the centos/redhat episode we had a couple years ago.
  
  Heh. "A couple of years ago."
- That quote sounds uncomfortably like a grudge on SUSE Enterprise's part.
  
  It's a quote from the article, not a statement by SUSE.

This is a massive miss-play on Suse's part. Essentially all the good will, and recognition I have for Suse is based on OpenSuse. It's the reason many of the places I've worked at now run a Suse product instead of redhat. Seriously, when I think of OpenSuse and Suse as a whole I barely differentiate the toonunlike redhat and fedora. That's likely the reason for the switch but I cannot see how-this does anything but benefit them.
From the article too there are some concerns. Suse is, admittedly, trying to cause opensuse to change direction ans managment to further suit it's buisness at threat of removing support. This is sad to see.
- to further suit its* business.
  
  To fursuit it is business

OpenSusame
- Sosumi
- open sesame

The request was respectful and SUSEs support on OpenSUSE is very helping the project so I’d personally be fine with fulfilling that request

OpenGNU/SE

Honestly, for a good distro, the brand is not great. Perhaps this can be viewed good opportunity to go with something more unique!

- This is absurd
  Years ago, when there were talks about establishing an independent foundation, sane people already warned that relying on a trademark not owned by them is risky. That was batted away as a non-issue. Now here we are.
- AbsurdOS -- the free enterprise operating system
  
  OpenSUSE is not an enterprise operating system. This is probably why they want the rebrand.

OpenSUS

Lizard Linux
Lizard Linux
Lizard Linux

Since I had to deal with some representatives of SUSE corp, I can say that the whole experience was just plain horrible. Don‘t like that company at all and thus am not surprised that the name change topic is even discussed at all.

OpenSussy

Introducing openSUSA
- That is the phonetic spelling of how you’re supposed to say SUSE. It’s. SUSAhhh, like appaloosa. I know this because I watch that goofy video on youtube.
  
  Since SUSE has its roots in Germany (it stands for Software und Systementwicklung) I think the German pronunciation would be correct which is a little different. Both S are soft and the E is short. Like "Zoos" + "Eh".

Just change the name. It’s not a big deal. SUSE is a stupid name anyway.
- I think it's one of those things that will become a bigger deal indirectly because of all the knock-on effects. Like the branding, they'll have to have the logos all redesigned, the domain name will have to change, it'll mess up a lot of troubleshooting when people google the old name etc.
- I agree but it could be worse (Pop!_OS)
- All people named Susanne: 😐

Seems a pointless endeavour. The open and enterprise sides are so deeply linked, it makes sense that they share a brand.
Separating them only weakens the broader SUSE ecosystem.
- @thehatfox @banazir
  Suse and Oracle already have an enterprise-level community project, OpenELA. This image explains very well in my opinion why SUSE is asking the openSUSE community to remove the SUSE name.
  
  I'm curious as to where they're actually going with this. They got news, they got repo, but still nothing to run even after almost a year?

They should name it something original like Green Lantern
- HA!

ESUS OS?
- Just go the last step and call it Jesus OS
  
  Reboots after three days and then disappears in the cloud.
  
  Temple OS returns!
  
  GSUS
  
  Temple OS returns!
  
  JesOS
- Kind of reads like ASUS

Finally
ClosedSUSE

The openSUSE website obly lists three variants, Leap, Tumbleweed and MicroOS. I don't see the many confusing variabts that are mentioned in the article
- Aeon
  Argon and Krypton
  Kalpa
  Leap Micro
  
  Thanks!
  Well I think that the atomic distros, especially desktops, have a big future, I hope openSUSE gets to keep working on those.
  I might try Kalpa actually. Seems like the openSUSE version of Fedora Kinoite?

Off the top of my head...
Gecko or GeckOS
LizOS
ReptilOS
ChamelOS
KomodOS
- Gecko (is already an openSUSE spin)
- Ooooh, I love GeckOS, rolls off the tongue silky smooth. Maybe this is just a great opportunity to rebrand (again)
  
  GeckOS is already taken. It’s a 6502 unix-like operating system
- Midlizard

Name it UnownOS. The other variants like MicroOS and Leap all have logos that look like Unowns.
I'm sure Nintendo wouldn't mind. Their lawyers are known to be pretty chill...
- If the just called it other.
  It would gain a huge boost in desktop usage figures.

Rocky Linux 2
- Rocky Rocky Linux
  Rocky^2 linux for short

Zuse Linux

Call it gecs os and have 100 gecs do the promotion for it.

ChameleonOS seems to be already taken... Maybe ReptileOS?
- David Icke will disagree!

SUS_OS
- AmogOS will sue them to oblivion.
- Sus

openZUSE

OpenSUE
- A Distribution Named SUE

openSUSE is already a brand, now the main thing is not to get lost.
- When I hear openSUSE, I think of german engineering and resources from SUSE, with a history of innovating great infrastructure.
  With a new name, distanced from the SUSE part, I'll probably feel more like if this is yet another random derivative created by a small group who might soon lose interest.

OpenSOOSE

If they were to rename/rebrand, what would be the new name, do you think?
I've heard mention of GeekLinux/GeekOS.
- Dear Lord I hope they don't go with that one.
  
  CringeOS!
  
  It would be non-professional as frick.
- That is terrible idea, it's even worse than my fun proposal of openSAUCE...
- Is openSusie different enough to be considered?
- I can imagine that getting confused with Guix (pronounced geeks)

Makes sense really.
OpenSUSE is not the open version of SUSE ( SUSE Linux Enterprise - SLE ). If you compare to Red Hat, OpenSUSE is Fedora, not CentOS.
I can see how people would get the wrong idea.
It is a bit crappy that they waited so long though. On the desktop, OpenSUSE is quite an established brand.

If GeckOS doesn't work out... SUSEbanthony, LazySUSE, SUSEsarandon, DrSUSE, uSUSEalsuspects, OkcanSUSE (must be sung)... #puns
- Those all use SUSE though lol
  
  @JackbyDev @mobilehugh why not just ChamleOS?
- legallyDistinctOpenSUSE

call it SUES. SUSE won't be able to complain since they are so hung up on it being pronounced SU-SAY.

NotSUSE
- NotOpenYetSus

I vote for the new name to be Margot Linux.
- Why?
  
  Why not?

OpenSawWWWwwce

SUSiE

~~Dont do things that aren't necessary.~~
\ ~~The name is adequate, it performs it's function, its there.~~
~~Feels like consumerism, always "innovating" for the sake if being new and flashy.~~
Oh, wait, SUSE said that? Weird.
\ I guess if it's a (kind of) must, tho that makes me weary of what's SUSEs plan that they would benefit from this. It can't be just stupid manager stuff, right? :D
That said, I submit open-me-SUSSY for consideration.
\ I believe most will assume correctly what the general idea for the logo would be, so no need to sketch it.
- openMeSussy
  
  sudo openMeSussy -F -Y

A bad time to install Tumbleweed? I just downloaded the ISO today, not kidding.
- It's as a good time as any. I would just install and use it. Name change or not, it shouldn't affect your usage. Don't worry
- This won't affect anything major, you're fine.
- I don't personally care for anything suse based. I find that rhel like is more stable and easier to work with

OpenSUSEd.

Chameleon Linux: Changing Stripes Edition

169 comments