OpenSuSE 12.3 – the Cheater

I don't  like OpenSuSE. I've tried it several times, and I always was disappointed.

However, I recently read an article by Dedoimedo, which praised OpenSuSE 12.3 as the best in the 12.x series. I also got a comment on my OpenSuSE 12.2 article, in which the commenter said that the 12.3 version is much better than 12.2. And last but not least, I recently got an order for OpenSuSE 12.3 disk from one of my customers.

That's why I decided to check OpenSuSE 12.3 for myself.

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If you hoped to see the full-blown review of this operating system, unfortunately I have to disappoint you. I shall simply send you to Dedoimedo's article linked above.

I will write, for the 45th time probably, about what I consider the rubbish software and update management system OpenSuSE uses.

So, let's start the Live session of OpenSuSE 12.3 KDE, run the Install/Remove Software application, which is located in the Computer section of the main menu.

OpenSuSE 12.3 YaST

Type "Chromium" in the search string and hit Search. In the list that appears, tick the checkbox next to the Chromium line. You have a few more lines that will be autoselected here. They are logical dependencies, as you can notice.

Chromium browser and its direct dependencies

And now click Accept. First of all, you have to accept two more license agreements for software, not mentioned anywhere on the earlier screens: Adobe Flash Plugin and GStreamer Fluendo plugin. Finally, you have a list of additional components Yast (OpenSuSE's software management tool) imposes on you.

None of the items in this list can be deselected. Drop-down list at the top only filters the view, but not the follow-up process.

The text at the very top of the window reads:

In addition to your manual selections, the following packages have been changed to resolve dependencies.

If you scroll through the list, you can find there brilliant dependencies of Chromium browser like MozillaFirefox-translations-common, kdeartwork4-wallpapers-weather, gtk3-branding-openSUSE etc.

Will anyone in the world in a rational state of mind believe that the Chromium browser could actually depend on Firefox translations or OpenSuSE branding?

Dear OpenSuSE developers! Could you please read this carefully: don't take your users as dummies and newbies. Call things by their correct names. If you decide to impose an overall system update, call it an update. If a user wants to install only one application, let him install that one application, then inform him of a necessary update without insisting he perform it at once as a price for requesting something new.

Overall, I really do think that OpenSuSE 12.3 is the best in the OpenSuSE 12.x range. But that's far not the best operating system. And, I should admit, this is not the honest operating system. It's a cheater!

Do you want to try OpenSuSE 12.3 yourself? Then why not order the disk with this operating system from BuyLinuxCDs site?