"SLED runs a Linux kernel, an open source software stack, and is marketed and commercially supported as a Linux distribution by Novell. So like it or not, how well it performs will affect the reputation of both Novell and the whole “Linux” user experience, the same way Red Hat products can influence the reputation of Linux and Red Hat.
"If anything Novell has done more to improve the user experience on SLED than other organizations (commercial or community) have done for their own Linux distributions."