openSUSE Linux seeks own direction, more autonomy from Novell

“The developers behind openSUSE are drafting a new “community
statement” as part of a broader effort to define a technical
strategy for their project. The purpose of the community statement
is to describe the kind of collaborative environment that the
project wants to create as it refines its technical focus.

“A year after acquiring commercial Linux vendor SUSE, Novell
decided to open the popular SUSE Linux distribution and transition
it to a community-driven development model. This resulted in the
formation of the openSUSE project, an open source development
effort that is sponsored by Novell. The project’s direction is
guided by an elected board of three Novell employees and two
independent community contributors.

“The openSUSE project is generally aligned with Novell’s
business interests, but it has asserted its autonomy on several
occasions. One prominent example is the openSUSE community’s
decision last year to make KDE the default desktop environment for
the distribution. Novell has consistently been respectful of the
community’s wishes and autonomy.”

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