openSUSE Project releases openSUSE 12.1

BANGALORE, INDIA:  The openSUSE Project, a global open source community has announced the general availability of openSUSE 12.1.

The easy-to-use multipurpose operating system distribution helps users and developers leverage free and open source software in physical, virtual and cloud environments, said a press release.

"openSUSE 12.1 represents more than eight months of worldwide effort to create one of the industry's best Linux distributions," said Jos Poortvliet, openSUSE community manager for SUSE.

"The openSUSE distribution and its thousands of open source applications are the result of contributions from individual testers, writers, translators, usability experts, artists, ambassadors, packagers and developers having a lot of fun working together to create a uniquely powerful set of tools and capabilities," added Poortvliet.

The release further added that the openSUSE Project is committed to provide a stable, complete and easy-to-use multipurpose distribution is demonstrated by the latest community community-led features openSUSE 12.1. 

The innovations include:

Cloud Innovation
Designed with integration in mind, the latest openSUSE release ships with the latest Linux kernel 3.1, making it even more versatile and extensible for supporting mixed IT environments including public and private clouds.

By leveraging SUSE Studio users can build and deploy unique versions of openSUSE 12.1, with custom package selections, artwork, scripts, etc. that can be deployed directly to Amazon EC2 or onto a variety of other cloud platforms.

openSUSE is the first Linux distribution to support ownCloud with its own unique Mirall desktop integration. Additionally, the openSUSE Virtualization and Cloud repository offers the latest versions of Eucalyptus, OpenNebula and OpenStack for openSUSE 12.1. The latest virtualization technologies including Xen 4.1, KVM and VirtualBox can be managed with the latest virt-manager and open-vm-tools.

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Distribution Innovation
openSUSE 12.1 includes Snapper, a new and unique tool that employs the snapshot functionality in btrfs to allow users to view older versions of files and revert changes. The integration of Snapper into the zypper package manager allows users to roll back system updates and configuration changes.

openSUSE is also the first major distribution to ship the Go programming language, Google's new open development language.

Desktop enhancements
With Gnome Shell 3.2 the openSUSE interface focuses on deeper integration of collaboration tools such as calendar notifications, chat and a centralized online accounts configuration. The UI elements and workflows are touch-screen friendly, equipped to handle smaller screens, multi-screen setups and automatic rotation for touch screen devices.

openSUSE is the first major Linux distribution to ship both GNOME and KDE with color management. Other features in KDE include the introduction of the Apper software manager, simplifying software installation. openSUSE also include the innovative Plasma Active tablet interface in the Open Build Service.