A fun distribution that seems to have lost its way
What do you like best?
OpenSuSE keeps up with the cutting edge of software, providing multiple versions and paths for whether or not you want reasonably stable or absolute bleeding edge. It's pretty easy to get and build software on the platform, and works well as a desktop O/S for a laptop. It also runs well on older hardware that may not be up to the challenge of more demanding operating systems.
What do you dislike?
Between all the M&A activity that parent/sponsor company SuSE has been through over the past decade or two, I think OpenSuSE has gotten lost in the shuffle. It's hard for a company that has to make money to figure out how to fund these things, anyway, and provide the resources for a freely-available and community-supported platform, and I don't think SuSE has done the best job of making this happen in a way that benefits the community using it. Also, the short lifecycle of the releases - about 18 months - can be challenging to keep up with - it's really easy to get 4 years down the road on a version and realize you can no longer get software and updates because you're two major versions back with no support.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Be prepared to keep up with the quick pace of updates and major version changes.
What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?
I want to run Linux on my laptop rather than Windows so that I can more efficiently manage a large Linux and UNIX landscape.
