"I'm pleased to see Novell give early access for developers to their popular SUSE Linux distribution as soon as the first beta release," said Andrew Morton (pictured below), maintainer of the Linux 2.6 kernel, as Novell - as anticipated last week by SYS-CON Media - announced today at LinuxWorld 2005 in San Francisco the creation of the OpenSUSE project, a new initiative aimed at promoting the adoption of Linux worldwide.

"This is a useful step that we hope will attract more developers to contribute to the kernel and encourage more users to try Linux," Morton added.

The openSUSE project will offer access to frequent developer builds of the SUSE Linux distribution, beginning today with the first beta release of SUSE Linux 10.0.

The beta release will offer the latest features, including new desktop environments and desktop productivity applications, Linux application security based on Novell AppArmor, improved desktop search, the latest Xen virtualization technology, updated Mono and Eclipse development packages, and enhanced multimedia capabilities.

When completed later this fall, SUSE Linux 10.0 will be made available for free download at openSUSE.org. Novell will continue to deliver a packaged edition of SUSE Linux 10.0 for enthusiasts and first time Linux users in retail stores and online shops, with installable media, additional software and plug-ins, comprehensive documentation and installation support.

“The Free Standards Group applauds Novell's openSUSE community effort,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Free Standards Group. “OpenSUSE will promote broader user adoption of Linux, as well as greater transparency in the development and release of this important Linux distribution. This transparency will lead to greater coordination among the Linux community and will aid our efforts in the Linux Standard Base. Through efforts such as this and the Linux Standard Base, the Linux community will continue to deliver to users reliable, open, and trusted software.”

“In 2003, we moved our company to Linux. Now we want to move the world to Linux,” said David Patrick, vice president and general manager, Linux, Open Source Platforms and Services at Novell. “With openSUSE, our goals are to make it easy for anyone to get access to SUSE Linux and to provide a place where developers can advance the state of the art of Linux. The project provides an environment where new ideas are welcomed, incubated and implemented rapidly.”

More details on the development calendar and guidelines can be found on the http://opensuse.org website.