Comments on: Suse Studio: Linux customization for the masses

Novell has apparently figured out how to enable "mass customization" with a cool new tool for Suse Linux enabling users to create and test variants of Suse Linux Enterprise and OpenSuse.

[fedoraguy]

Fedora has had the revisor tool to do this for quite a while now. It is used to create remixes and re-spins of Fedora. Novell's tool is a good idea, but not a first.

http://revisor.fedoraunity.org/

[gbraad]

SUSE Studio does take it a little further. It can create both ISOs (and USB) as virtual images. From the same interface you can customize your distribution, add packages and generate a Virtual Appliance. From the same interface you can 'Testdrive' the same image...

With testdrive, your VMware image will be run from a KVM instance... you can see the console/x session using the provided VNC connection (within the browser). Any change that gets made is recorded (file creation). You can select those files from the Overlay files tab and import those into your appliance... which can be rebuild and will then include those files. This way you can very easily customize your images without the need to use a plethora of additional tools. All from within the same interface.

Additional remark: Kanarip (creator of the revisor tool) posted a message today: http://kanarip.livejournal.com/8249.html... about this application not being open... and correct towards it's 'community'. First of all, this tool is still Alpha... Novell will probably open it up to others when it reaches a stable status. And perhaps who knows what will happen later.

[Mr. Dee]

This sounds like the waste of time activities the 1% Linux user base hobbyist will enjoy using while Windows and Mac users get work done, and still get to do all the rich multimedia stuff a lot of consumers like to do.

Linux, the OS only meant for tinkering with.

[MSSlayer]

Deedeedee,

You are a true idiot.

1%? You are dreaming. What do you think runs many servers, firewalls, and other backend systems.

1% isn't even true on the desktop. You would be surprised how many alleged Windows boxes don't have Windows installed.

And let's not forget that Linux is big in supercomputing clusters, and animation rendering.

Linux does the majority of the heavy computing lifting.

What "rich multimedia stuff" does Linux not do?

[Mr. Dee]

Linux people, known to call others true idiots. Heh, MSSlayer, stop being a pathetic jerk because Uncle Stallman and Cousin Torvalds Frankenstein have been given the thumbs down by the entire world.

[kennonk]

lol...what a trol,l and if anyone who reads this believes this is even remotely true you only have to look at what the 500 most powerful computers in the world almost all run http://www.top500.org Now a days super computing is almost exclusively the realm of Linux. I think there are 2-3 that run Windows. And those are all in the lower 50%.

[pentest]

Yeah, don't prove my points wrong, just be the moron that you are.

[tm_anon]

Currently running Linux, anything I used to do while running Windows XP, I can now do better on the same machine, including doing work, including all the "rich multimedia stuff" a lot of consumers like to do. I actually do a lot less tinkering with my system in order to get it to work than I did with Windows.

Windows is the OS for those who really enjoy menial tasks. Apple is the OS for those who like to pay for things that tend not to break with good design, but who also enjoy not having much freedom in what they can do with those things (Windows has this same feature, but it's turned down when it comes to hardware). Linux, on the other hand, is the OS meant for those who like to have freedom, like to be able to use their software as they'd like, like to be able to do what they want without all the menial tasks just to keep their computer running.

[daengbo]

This is not for "hobbyists." Go to the website and watch the screencast and you will understand that this is for administrators to quickly deploy servers or desktops on physical or virtual machines. It's a huge business right now.

From your comment, I would guess that YOU are the hobbyist.

[The_Anomaly]

Whoohoo someone who flames out Linux users, like it! So used to reading the abuse linux and mac users dish out everywhere else :) There is some truth in this though. Linux is awesome but I can't afford to waste time tinkering and setting up my pc and taking courses on how to use my new linux operating system. Love my Microsoft operating system for work and love to play with linux. Sorry. You can't use super computing as your proof, as Mr Dee said we're talking about getting work done at the office. Linux is definitely getting there though and fast thanks to Suse and Ubuntu

[MSSlayer]

"One of the great promises of software is its infinite malleability: software can be whatever you want, so long as you have the skills necessary (and legal rights) to modify it."

You forgot to add if it was written well.

Poorly written software can't be changed, unless you are committed to rewrite to correctly.

[MSSlayer]

It is not that difficult to roll your own distro on your own.

The supported part you are trumpeting probably isn't nearly as good as you think. How far from a standard SuSE build can you go before there is no support? No one is telling yet, but I wager it isn't very far. How much will this support cost and will it be any good?

More importantly, can you redistribute the results? You might think the answer is yes, but it is not a given. Can those you distribute it to get support from Novell as well? What about mono? It is nearly impossible to get a functioning opensuse distro untainted from the mono stink. Can you do it with this? Knowing Novell, it is likely that whatever you produce will be full of this poison. There are too many important unanswered questions to be able to trumpet it now.

With the countless repos, and their build service, not too mention that all gui environments are very customizable, you can do anything you want now. Offering vague levels of support is a bit of a red herring.

[dberkholz]

Didn't Rpath do this ages ago?

[matt_horany]

"tools that provide rapid, fully supported mass-market efficiency, reliability, and consistency, while allowing for individuality."

This is why I wish Novell would start an open-source SLES project as well. I think you'd have a lot of developers (many who run a Novell shop already) that could contribute to some of the free applications that you can run side by side with Novell's OES applications. I think a SUSE Enterprise is a solid OS, but I believe there is a lot of room for improvement to make it rock solid. It may also help to have developers input on angles of the operating system that make it easy for Novell to write better code for their OES products to run flawless on top of linux.

[baetica]

Nonsense on stilts.

First of all, Ford wasn't responsible for mass customization of cars. "They can have any color as long as it's black" - is I believe the canonical Henry Ford quote. GM was the first company to ACTUALLY offer multiple colors, and it had nothing to do with the use of assembly lines AT ALL. This is basic business history.

Second, having worked on OS's and fairly complex pieces of middleware, I can tell you that guaranteeing supportability through a magic algorithm is about as achieveable as guaranteeing supportability through formal correctness proofs. This is mostly marketing fluff, and a less gullible reporter would smell the bs here.

[leesdowdle]

Fedora has a nice program for building your own respin and I use it myself to create a custom spin that contains all of the updates (Fedora updates often and in mass and their initial install media is very, very, very outdated after a month or two) plus some additional software from a third-party repo. You can watch a screencast I did on the process here:

Screencast: How to Build a Fedora 10 Remix
http://www.montanalinux.org/fedora-remix-howto-screencast.html

In the screencast I build a LiveDVD. Fedora has software with which you can easily create a LiveUSB (with persistent storage and even an encrypted home partition)... and then you can either boot the LiveDVD, LiveUSB on physical hardware or run it in KVM that is included with Fedora assuming you have VT support in your CPU.

While Fedora's process isn't as integrated as SUSE Studio appears to be (web-app and KVM) any end user can do it now. This capability has actually been around for a few releases. One difference might be though that Fedora doesn't offer paid support for their main product nor the respins you make yourself.

The author says what a major step and an innovation SUSE Studio will be but doesn't really elaborate on how it is such.