Multimedia Codecs and VirtualBox
Introduce me to a guy complaining about multimedia support in Linux and I'll show you the nice folks at the openSUSE Community web site who have tirelessly produced One-click installation files for Gnome and KDE users of openSUSE. In the old days, the venerable VLC player was a godsend for Linux users, but today you can pretty much do without it on a Linux box assuming you know how to search for "ugly" in a software manager (which produces the restricted "Ugly" set of Gstreamer codecs). I've personally never had any problems with multimedia in Windows or Linux for years, though I don't really recommend streaming Quicktime in openSUSE via a browser.
VirtualBox, everyone's favorite user-friendly mainstream virtual manager, handles openSUSE just fine. Although setting up Shared folders between a Windows OS host and a Linux OS guest could be a little simpler, that's not really openSUSE's fault.
Nepomuk
Long-time KDE users hiss the word Nepomuk and consider it a blot in KDE's otherwise happy environment. Although Nepomuk is still switched on by default, it's no longer as annoying as before especially in terms of notifications (users were previously badgered endlessly if you disabled Nepomuk and failed to switch off notifications). To be fair, the indexing service isn't as intrusive as it may seem but neither is it any more useful for users. As a footnote, Nepomuk is disabled automatically when running on openSUSE LiveUSB or LiveCD.
KDE Plasma Workspace
There really isn't any improvements anyone can make to the KDE desktop in terms of features. Moreover, openSUSE developers have done a great job optimizing the admittedly heavy system. In fact, it could use a little bit of trimming, though one could argue that with today's powerful processors and speedy RAM the bulk is a non-issue. The Run command window (triggered using ALT+F2) is still the best command manager ever. I may not use the KDE Kickoff menu very often but I still prefer it over the Unity Launcher or Gnome Shell any day of the week. openSUSE KDE comes with some of the most impressive desktop widgets, but they are more to impress the rubes than anything else (which is pretty much the same thing you can say about Windows 7 widgets and Mac OSX's Launchpad).
Considering the much heralded "death" of netbooks, I'm surprised that the Plasma Netbook feature is still included with openSUSE. It's better than ever since the first release 2 or 3 years ago and I'd want to use the Plasma Netbook mode if I had an extra non-production machine lying around. Perhaps KDE or openSUSE would rebrand it as Plasma "Touch" when mainstream users can finally install openSUSE on a tablet or RT machine in the near future.
Set up and Customization
I've been using openSUSE consistently for more than five years now so setting up my applications and the desktop is automatic for me. Yast2 makes printer installation, software management, boot up, and networking straightforward and even if it didn't, SUSE provides some pretty comprehensive manuals to point you in the right direction.
One minor niggle I keep wishing for are new color themes and KDE window designs. Obviously, the included theme manager allows you to search for tons of available themes, but having the preinstalled options revamped would be nice - even the most ardent KDE fan can get tired of Oxygen, Air, Plastic, and the other traditional themes included with KDE. openSUSE can also use a little bit more color beyond the grey, steel, blue, and black color combinations that are available as presets.
Who should install openSUSE 12.2?
It's easy to get biased about a particular Linux distribution especially if you've grown accustomed to its eccentricities. So objectively if you're already running a lightweight and working distribution on your netbook or laptop, then I don't recommend openSUSE 12.1 KDE unless you're looking for a new Linux distribution to migrate to. openSUSE is recommended to users who are the following:
- Users who need to learn a Linux distribution that is closely related to Novell's enterprise desktop operating system.
- Users who have used openSUSE before and ready to return to openSUSE after trying out other Linux distributions.
- Users who want a complete library of applications via a comprehensive repository and prefer a desktop with a fully-featured control center that isn't Mandriva/Mageia Control Center to administer a Linux network, server, or desktop.
- Users who abhor Unity and Gnome 3 and are patient enough to uninstall included KDE applications and replace them with their preferred utilities/tools.
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